Poland is cooperating with Nord Stream probe, minister says

[January 12, 2024]  By Marek Strzelecki
 
WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland has been cooperating with allies in a probe into the sabotage of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines, the minister in charge of Polish intelligence services said, denying a newspaper report that it was hindering investigations.  

View towards Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline and the transfer station of the Baltic Sea Pipeline Link in the industrial area of Lubmin, Germany, August 30, 2022. REUTERS/Lisi Niesner/File Photo

In an interview with Reuters, Tomasz Siemoniak said the country's prosecutors have been supplying information to European investigators and could allocate more resources to the probe if requested.

"There were meetings of German and Polish prosecutors on this case, and in no area was there any signal of any dissatisfaction of others who dealt with these cases," Siemoniak said.

"From what I was able to determine, there was no situation in which there was a lack of cooperation or any intentional mistake made by anyone."

The Nord Stream pipelines, connecting Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, were blown up in September 2022.

The Wall Street Journal, citing European investigators working on the case it did not name, reported earlier this month that Polish officials have resisted cooperating with the probe and failed to disclose potentially crucial evidence.

The newspaper said investigators were hoping that the new government in Warsaw would be less resistant.

Investigations have so far failed to establish who was responsible for the pipeline blasts.

Last year, some Western media reported that a Ukrainian team was behind the sabotage. Ukraine has denied any involvement. Russia said the U.S. was responsible, which Washington denied.

According to media reports the pipeline was blown up by a crew including deep-sea divers, travelling on a leisure yacht called Andromeda, which stopped in Denmark, Germany and Poland.

The boat, leased in Germany via a Polish company, contained traces of octagon, the same explosive that was found at the underwater blast sites, according to investigations by Germany, Denmark and Sweden.

There was no evidence to suggest that Poland was used as a hub for the sabotage, Polish prosecutors said last year.

Last month, on the day he took office, Poland's new prime minister Donald Tusk fired the heads of all four the intelligence services, including those involved in the Nord Stream probe.

(Reporting by Marek Strzelecki; Editing by Alex Richardson)

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