Sweden ends Nord Stream Sabotage Investigation

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The Swedish Public Prosecutor’s Office (Åklagarmyndigheten) has ended its investigation into the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Germany.

Public Prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist says the investigation uncovered nothing to link any involvement by Sweden or any Swedish citizen to the explosions that ruptured the pipelines in September of 2022.

“The investigation has been systematic and thorough. Among other things, a large number of ship movements have been analyzed in order to understand what has happened. In addition to that, an extensive crime scene investigation has been carried out and several interviews have been held on the matter. Against the background of the situation we now have, we can state that Swedish jurisdiction does not apply.”

The primary purpose of the Swedish investigation was to establish whether Swedish citizens were involved in the pipeline sabotage and whether Swedish territory was used to carry out the act thereby risking damaging Swedish interests or Sweden's security.

While no Swedish link to the explosions was found, the investigation by Åklagarmyndigheten seems to have certainly gathered some evidence that could yet play a role in ongoing investigations still being conducted by authorities in both Denmark and Germany.

“We have had good cooperation with several countries, above all Denmark and Germany, where we have continuously shared information and status reports. We have had in-depth cooperation with the investigation conducted by the German authorities. Within the framework of this legal cooperation, we have been able to hand over material that can be used as evidence in the German investigation. The German investigation continues and due to the secrecy that prevails in international legal cooperation, I cannot comment further on the cooperation that has taken place.”

In September of 2022, a series of undersea explosions tore the Nord Stream pipelines apart in three locations in international waters just outside Swedish and Danish territorial waters. The explosions released huge amounts of methane into the atmosphere.