Berlin, Mar 8 (EFE).- The German government on Wednesday warned against jumping to conclusions after new media reports suggested a pro-Ukrainian group may have carried out an act of sabotage against the Nord Stream gas pipeline last year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m following this information with great interest,\u201d Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defense minister, told the local Deutschlandfunk radio station. \u201cBut we have to wait to see what is confirmed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His call for caution came after The New York Times said fresh intelligence examined by United States officials suggested that pro-Ukrainian actors may have been behind the explosions and subsequent gas leaks at a section of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in waters near Sweden and Denmark. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Citing anonymous US officials, the newspaper said new intelligence suggested the alleged sabotage group was likely made up of Ukrainian or Russian nationals, or a combination of both, and that there was no evidence to suggest Ukraine\u2019s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy or his top brass had signed off on the mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The blasts in September last year rendered both strands of the Nord Stream 1 line and one strand of the Nord Stream 2 inoperable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia had already turned off the Nord Stream 1 line in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, citing maintenance work at a time when Europe was weaning itself off Moscow\u2019s supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Germany\u2019s government halted the certification of Nord Stream 2 after Russia recognized the independence of breakaway Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, a prelude to Vladimir Putin\u2019s war, meaning it never came into use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Nord Steam line, majority owned by Russia\u2019s Gazprom, connects Russia with Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following the NYT report, German media outlets reconstructed a timeline of how the alleged sabotage was carried out, which began with a team renting a boat from a company in Poland owned by two Ukrainians. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Broadcaster ARD said the team comprised six people \u2013 a captain, two divers, two diving assistants and a doctor, all of whom carried false passports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The blasts at the Nord Stream pipeline are widely believed to have been an act of sabotage although the authors remain unknown. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia has blamed the explosions on the West, and has asked the United Nations Security Council to investigate the matter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine\u2019s presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak on Tuesday said Ukraine had no involvement in the alleged sabotage. EFE <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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