Sweden ends Nord Stream probe over lack of jurisdiction
STOCKHOLM — Sweden on Wednesday dropped its investigation into the explosions in 2022 on Nord Stream pipelines carrying Russian gas to Germany, saying it lacked jurisdiction in the case but had handed evidence it had uncovered over to German investigators.
The Nord Stream pipelines, which carried Russian natural gas into Germany and the wider European Union via underwater routes across the Baltic Sea, were ruptured in what appears to have been a series of deliberately set explosions in the waters of Sweden’s and Denmark’s economic zones.
During investigations, officials from both Sweden and Denmark said they found traces of explosives, which suggested deliberate sabotage. The pipelines have been crippled ever since.
With the blasts happening soon after the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and with Russia’s exports of natural gas to the EU in the spotlight at the time, Russia has contended the blasts were instigated by the United Kingdom and the United States, and called for a “transparent international investigation” to get to the truth.
Swedish prosecutors concluded that nothing had emerged to indicate that Sweden or Swedish citizens were involved in the attack which took place “in international waters”.
“Against the background of the situation we now have, we can state that Swedish jurisdiction does not apply,” Public Prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist said in a statement.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Russia will watch what Germany does to investigate explosions.
In July, Germany told the UN Security Council it had found traces of subsea explosives on a sailing yacht that “may have been used to transport the explosives” and that trained divers may have attached the explosives to the pipelines.
“Of course, now we need to see how Germany itself reacts to this, as a country that has lost a lot in relation to this terrorist attack,” Peskov said.
“It will be interesting to see how thorough the German authorities will be when it comes to this investigation,” he added.
Danish police said on Wednesday it expected to provide more information on its investigation “within a short time”.