NEW YORK, August 20. /TASS/. The investigation into the sabotage on the Nord Stream gas pipelines has ignited a dispute between Germany and Poland, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, citing sources.
In a post on X on August 17, the newspaper writes, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk suggested the "initiators and patrons" of the twin natural gas pipelines "apologize and keep quiet," referring to Germany. His comment came in the wake of reports in German media that Ukraine and Poland were behind the attack on the pipelines.
Germany viewed Tusk’s statement as "adding insult to injury", people familiar with the matter told the newspaper. However, German authorities chose not to respond to avoid escalating the dispute as they noted that the two NATO allies were supposed to be working together to support Kiev.
Meanwhile, the WSJ added, the dispute between the two European capitals over the Nord Streams had been brewing for months. Sources in Berlin said Poland has lately "deliberately tried to derail the investigation" as it refused to provide requested CCTV footage or mobile phone data. In turn, Poland claimed that no such footage exists at all. Later on, Warsaw refused to act on an arrest warrant issued by Germany, seeking one of the suspects.
Against this drop, the WSJ said, "Berlin then decided to escalate the case to the top echelons of the Polish government," but even communication on the level of ministers did not help appease Poland. According to the newspaper, all of the suspects are now thought to be in Ukraine which cannot extradite its own citizens.
Probe into Nord Stream sabotage
On August 14, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) newspaper reported, citing a joint probe with ARD television and the weekly Die Zeit, that German federal prosecutors had issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian diving instructor suspected of having played a role in sabotaging the Nord Stream gas pipelines. While the suspect’s last known whereabouts were in Poland, he has reportedly disappeared. The German prosecutor’s office, the newspaper said, suspects two other Ukrainian diving instructors of involvement in the Nord Streams sabotage. In addition, the German media accused Poland of lack of assistance in the investigation into the explosions at the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines. According to German investigators, the Polish authorities "were not ready to cooperate from the very beginning."
In turn, the Wall Street Journal newspaper reported, citing sources, that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky approved the plan to sabotage the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, but tried to cancel his decision after the CIA learned about it.