Traces of octogen, which can explode underwater, were found on the yacht Andromeda, which could have been involved in the Nord Stream bombing
Octogen is much lighter than TNT, it could be transported on a small boat, and experienced divers could deliver it to the seabed, the newspaper writes.
An investigation in Germany has found traces of octogen, an explosive suitable for underwater use, on a large area aboard the yacht Andromeda.
Source. Der Spiegel writes about this with reference to sources.
Investigators have also determined that the metadata of the email used to rent the yacht leads to Ukraine.
Investigators under the leadership of Prosecutor General Peter Frank are confident that the Andromeda yacht was used for the sabotage. It left the port of Rostock-Warnemünde in early September 2022 and returned after the pipeline explosion. Apparently, forged documents were used for the lease.
In addition, according to Der Spiegel, the metadata of an email sent during the rental of the Andromeda yacht leads to Ukraine.
According to the investigation, explosives equivalent to 500 kg of TNT were used in the explosion.
According to Der Spiegel, octogen is much lighter than TNT, it could be transported on a relatively small boat, and it could be delivered to the bottom of the Baltic Sea by experienced military divers.
Statements that the explosives could have been delivered to the detonation site only on a larger ship or a small submarine are no longer relevant, the newspaper claims.
According to Der Spiegel, the evidence obtained by the investigation coincides with the assessments of a number of intelligence agencies, which believed that Ukrainian citizens were behind the explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines.
Now, the intelligence services are asking whether the operation was carried out by a group outside the state's control or by Ukrainian intelligence services, and how deeply the Ukrainian authorities were involved in the planning of the operation.
The German prosecutor's office has not officially commented on the investigation.
OSINT analyst Oliver Alexander wrote that he had questions about Der Spiegel's publication. In particular, he notes that an explosion equivalent to 500 kg of TNT would require 294 kg of octogen.
"This is hardly a small charge that can be 'easily transported on a small boat,'" Alexander writes, noting that such an amount of explosives would hardly be possible to buy on the black market.
Background. As reported, russia has no plans to repair the blown-up Nord Stream pipelines and is going to seal the pipelines.
If you have read this article to the end, we hope that means it was useful for you.
We work to ensure that our journalistic and analytical work is of high quality, and we strive to perform it as competently as possible. This also requires financial independence. Support us for only UAH 196 per month.
Become a Mind subscriber for just USD 5 per month and support the development of independent business journalism!
You can unsubscribe at any time in your LIQPAY account or by sending us an email: [email protected]
