WARSAW (Reuters) – Poland’s minister in charge of intelligence services, Tomasz Siemoniak, has stated that the country has been cooperating with allies in the investigation of the sabotage of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines. He denied a newspaper report claiming that Poland was obstructing the probe and stated that the country’s prosecutors have been providing information to European investigators and are willing to allocate more resources if requested (Reuters).
Siemoniak emphasized that there was no signal of dissatisfaction or lack of cooperation between German and Polish prosecutors involved in the case. He also refuted any claims of intentional mistakes by anyone (Reuters).
In September 2022, the Nord Stream pipelines, which connect Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, were blown up. The Wall Street Journal reported that Polish officials had resisted cooperating with the probe and failed to disclose crucial evidence. However, there were hopes that the new government in Warsaw would be more cooperative (Reuters).
Investigations have yet to establish who was responsible for the pipeline blasts, with conflicting reports suggesting involvement from Ukraine or the U.S., both of which were denied by the respective countries (Reuters).
Media reports indicated that the sabotage was carried out by a crew on a leisure yacht called Andromeda, which made stops in Denmark, Germany, and Poland. Traces of octagon, the same explosive found at the underwater blast sites, were detected on the boat, which was leased in Germany via a Polish company (Reuters).
Polish prosecutors have stated that there is no evidence to suggest that Poland was used as a hub for the sabotage. Last month, Poland’s new prime minister, Donald Tusk, fired the heads of all four intelligence services, including those involved in the Nord Stream probe (Reuters).
(Reporting by Marek Strzelecki; Editing by Alex Richardson)
