European investigators are outraged by Poland's behavior and accuse it of sabotaging the investigation. Explosion on the Nord Stream gas pipeline. As the “Wall Street Journal” writes, Poland deliberately hid the key evidence in this case, because it might indicate Ukraine's involvement in the destruction of the gas pipeline.
“European investigators have long believed that the attack from Ukraine was organized by Poland,” the publication reads.
For now, Europe hopes that the new government in Warsaw will force Polish investigators to cooperate with the investigation. Some senior European officials say they are considering taking the matter directly to Donald Tusk.
Accusation against Poland
European investigators have so far produced no evidence of possible Polish government involvement in the destruction of Nord Stream as part of their investigation. They also point out that even if some Polish officials were actually involved in the sabotage, the Polish government may not have known anything about their involvement in the operation.
At the same time, investigators say, efforts by Polish authorities to block the investigation raise doubts about Warsaw's motives and role in the entire incident.
Polish prosecutors, who are conducting an internal investigation into the case, say they are cooperating with other countries. So far, no evidence of Polish involvement in sabotage has been found.
Destruction of the gas pipeline
An investigation by Germany, Denmark and Sweden concluded that the pipeline was blown up by a six-man team spotted on the yacht Andromeda in the Baltic Sea. According to the investigation, the yacht stopped in three countries during the trip, including Poland. Andromeda was rented in Germany through a Polish company. During the investigation, traces of the same explosive material found at the underwater explosion sites were found on the ship.
According to investigators, after destroying part of the pipeline, the crew landed in the Polish port of Kolobrzeg. He spent the whole day there. The port employee informed the police about a suspicious group of people (5 men and 1 woman). According to him, its members spoke Russian or Ukrainian.
On September 19, Polish border guards checked the crew members, during which they presented their EU passports. Then they were allowed to continue their journey. After returning north, they planted remaining mines around the gas pipeline, according to investigators.
Poland He shared this information Only in March 2023. Polish investigators agreed to share information only when asked to do so by their German counterparts. “Berlin learned about the presence of the yacht in Poland in January from the Dutch military intelligence, which received information from someone in Ukraine,” the publication reads.
Polish authorities refused to provide video recordings of the group of suspects. Although, as European investigators have established, the yacht's crew was in the field of view of monitoring cameras during their stay in the port of Kolobrzeg.
Poland has also been accused of deliberately obstructing the investigation. For example, the Polish prosecutor's office claimed that there were no traces of explosives on the Andromeda, although no forensic examination was conducted. For its part, the Homeland Security Agency reported that Border Patrol officers who inspected the yacht's crew never boarded the vessel, contradicting earlier statements by Polish prosecutors.
Polish prosecutors said the Andromeda arrived in Kolobrzeg at 4pm on September 19 and then left the port about 12 hours later. Investigators later discovered that the ship had actually docked at 9 a.m. after an overnight journey from Denmark.
German investigators waited at least two months before meeting their Polish counterparts in mid-May last year, according to European officials. After the meeting, they got the impression that the Poles were simply unwilling or unable to cooperate.
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