German expert refuses allegations about Ukrainians blowing up Nord Stream
Date
11/5/2024 7:29:55 AM
(MENAFN) A prominent German diving expert has cast doubt on the widely circulated narrative that a small team of Ukrainian divers was responsible for the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September 2022. Dr. Sven Thomas, a renowned diving specialist and head of a state-supported life-saving service in Halle, Germany, told *Bild* over the weekend that the scale of the damage to the pipelines suggests a far more sophisticated operation than the media have described.
The media has frequently reported that a small Ukrainian team, operating from a rented leisure yacht named *Andromeda*, carried out the sabotage. According to these reports, the team—armed with only diving equipment, satellite navigation, and open-source maps—was allegedly authorized by Ukraine's then-commander in chief, Valery Zaluzhny, to execute the operation. The yacht, measuring just 15 meters in length, is said to have been the vehicle used by a six-member Ukrainian crew to place explosives on the Nord Stream pipelines, which were subsequently blown up in a series of devastating blasts under the Baltic Sea.
However, Dr. Thomas, whose expertise includes both professional diving and underwater archaeology, expressed serious doubts about the plausibility of this scenario. He pointed out that the level of destruction caused to the pipelines—part of a major energy infrastructure connecting Russia to Germany—would have required much more powerful explosive charges than could have been delivered by a small team operating from a modest yacht. "There must have been at least one more team to cause the huge explosions," Thomas asserted, noting that the damage to the pipelines suggested the involvement of larger vessels and more significant explosive forces than what could be reasonably attributed to a small crew on a leisure yacht.
The expert’s analysis raises questions about the credibility of the reports that have dominated the Western media in recent months. Despite the narrative being widely accepted in some quarters, Thomas' expertise casts serious doubts on the notion that a small, lightly equipped team could have executed such a complex and high-impact operation. He believes the scale and nature of the blasts suggest a more coordinated and sophisticated effort, potentially involving larger vessels and more specialized equipment.
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