Poland slams Nord Stream sabotage claims as 'baseless'
4 Min Read
This comes after a WSJ exclusive report claimed a yacht rented by a Warsaw-based firm was responsible for carrying the crew that planted the explosive device which caused Nord Stream blasts.
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In this picture provided by Swedish Coast Guard, a small release from Nord Stream 2 is seen on September 28, 2022. (AP)
Poland rebuffed claims regarding its involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline carried out in September 2022, which destroyed one of the largest infrastructures in the world and potentially Europe's largest source of energy.
Commenting on this issue, high-ranking security official Stanislaw Zaryn has stated that reports claiming Warsaw had a role in the sabotage are aimed at diverting the public’s attention from what actually happened.
“Poland had no connection with the blowing up of Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2,” Zaryn tweeted.
The official --who serves as Secretary of State in the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of Poland and as acting deputy of the minister coordinator of Special Services-- also described the attempts to link Poland to the blast as "baseless".
“The hypothesis that the blow-up was committed by Russia, which had the motive and the ability to carry out such an operation, remains valid,” Zaryn claimed.
A flashback
An exclusive report by The Wall Street Journal on Saturday revealed that Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office is looking into evidence that might indicate that Poland was the operation's base to organize the attack on the pipelines.
Germany's Criminal Police Office found that a Warsaw-based firm Feeria Lwowa - which has been dormant for years and is owned by a Ukrainian citizen - rented a luxury yacht called Andromeda from a German company, located near the pipelines, that was used in the terrorist operation.
Read more: Polish PM hopes Nord Stream never becomes operational again
Earlier this week, a report by The Washington Post said the CIA knew through a European spy agency three months before the sabotage attack that members of a Ukrainian special operations team intended on blowing up the NordStream pipeline.
The yacht according to the investigators was loaded with explosives and made a deviation from its original route into Polish waters come from the Danish island of Christianso.
The Federal Prosecutor's Office of Germany confirmed last March that searches had been carried out on a ship that was carrying explosives to blow up the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
According to the WSJ report, the investigators who searched the boat in January found traces of HMX - also referred to as octogen, a colorless substance well-suited for demolishing underwater infrastructure.
The yacht crew planted the explosives before heading toward Poland, the report added, noting that navigation hardware, satellite, and mobile phones, as well as gmail accounts used by the perpetrators, were discovered on the ship. But the most notable finding was DNA samples that investigators are trying to match with suspected personnel.
Attempting to distance Warsaw from the operation, a senior Polish national security official said, “I can assure you that no Polish institution is involved in this story, and this is not a state case," but “I cannot exclude that some Polish company or whatever is involved in this case.”
Immediately after the explosion, former Polish minister and member of the European Parliament Radoslaw Sikorski thanked on his Twitter account the United States, referring to Washington's possible role in cutting off the energy infrastructure.
He also tweeted in Polish that if Russia wants to continue supplying gas to Europe, it must "talk to the countries controlling the Brotherhood and Yamal gas pipelines, Ukraine and Poland."
However, Sikorski later deleted both tweets.
Poland, which claims that it has been conducting its own investigation, has been trying for months to figure out what Berlin is investigating, the report revealed.
In March, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said President Joe Biden was responsible for ordering the Nord Stream pipeline explosion in September last year by using C-4 charges planted by US Navy divers.
He revealed that it was Norway that pointed out to the US the location of where the underwater pipeline was closest to the surface to facilitate the US operation.
