I don't have the time to translate the entire thing, but here's the gist of it (all transliterations of Ukrainian names spelled as in the article):
The article blames the attack exclusively on a team of 14 Ukrainian operatives (some of them with strong CIA links), led by Roman Tscherwinsky, who is currently under house arrest in the Ukraine due to botching the extradition of a Russian defector. Another named suspect is former head of Ukrainian military intelligence Wassyl Burba. The highest ranking Ukrainian guy who is at least partially blamed is former general Walerij Saluschny.
The article admits that the CIA and Swedish and Dutch intelligence knew about the plans, but states that they were against it and warned Germany. The German intelligence agency BND is said to have not taken the warning seriously, and to not have informed other security organs in Germany (which is politically expedient, the BND can fuck up as much as they want to and never faces actual consequences for anything). Selenskij is also let off the hook and supposedly opposed the plan.
Financing of the operation was apparently done by one unnamed Ukrainian entrepreneur who donated 300,000 €, additional costs supposedly covered by the operatives themselves, who are said to have worked pro bono.
All government officials who are still in active duty and are blamed in the article are Polish, the accusations are about not extraditing a suspect living in Poland at the time and instead warning him to enable his escape to Ukraine (this is also politically expedient, as it allows Germany to put pressure on Poland).
The technical part exclusively backs up the earlier chartered sailboat stories. I've always had my doubts about the technical side of the operation, given that a water depth of 80m is deep-sea diving and idk if 40 minutes for the ascend are enough time for decompression - from what little i know about deep sea diving, at that water depth a decompression chamber would be necessary, but that's just me talking as a layperson. I also have no idea how feasible it is to unload the needed explosives (which were supposedly hidden in fake oxygen bottles) without a crane, using just manual labor and the foldable diving platform on a mid-sized sailboat. The type of explosive isn't specified, btw. Apparently it took the team several days and multiple dives on each day to place all the charges.
The political spin is "well yes this is serious and diplomatically dicy, but it could be argued that German critical infrastructure was a legitimate military target, so this wasn't terrorism. Oh, and Nordstream 2 was mostly financed by Russia anyway."
All in all this version of events would work well as an ass-covering for most factions involved. Whether the CIA actually opposed this plot or not is something we'll only find out 30 years from now when they declassify the files.
Whatever the actual Events, i find it curious that Spiegel comes out with this now. People basically forgot it happened like.. a week after the bombings we're reported first? I doubt anyone cares now. Are they Testing the Waters for a Change in course after the elections next year? Or is it just a favor to some ukrainian operative, fishing for a Promotion?
Or it could just be a measure to garner even more support. I think i already saw some opinion piece headlines saying the bombings we're good actually.
I don't have the time to translate the entire thing, but here's the gist of it (all transliterations of Ukrainian names spelled as in the article):
The article blames the attack exclusively on a team of 14 Ukrainian operatives (some of them with strong CIA links), led by Roman Tscherwinsky, who is currently under house arrest in the Ukraine due to botching the extradition of a Russian defector. Another named suspect is former head of Ukrainian military intelligence Wassyl Burba. The highest ranking Ukrainian guy who is at least partially blamed is former general Walerij Saluschny.
The article admits that the CIA and Swedish and Dutch intelligence knew about the plans, but states that they were against it and warned Germany. The German intelligence agency BND is said to have not taken the warning seriously, and to not have informed other security organs in Germany (which is politically expedient, the BND can fuck up as much as they want to and never faces actual consequences for anything). Selenskij is also let off the hook and supposedly opposed the plan.
Financing of the operation was apparently done by one unnamed Ukrainian entrepreneur who donated 300,000 €, additional costs supposedly covered by the operatives themselves, who are said to have worked pro bono.
All government officials who are still in active duty and are blamed in the article are Polish, the accusations are about not extraditing a suspect living in Poland at the time and instead warning him to enable his escape to Ukraine (this is also politically expedient, as it allows Germany to put pressure on Poland).
The technical part exclusively backs up the earlier chartered sailboat stories. I've always had my doubts about the technical side of the operation, given that a water depth of 80m is deep-sea diving and idk if 40 minutes for the ascend are enough time for decompression - from what little i know about deep sea diving, at that water depth a decompression chamber would be necessary, but that's just me talking as a layperson. I also have no idea how feasible it is to unload the needed explosives (which were supposedly hidden in fake oxygen bottles) without a crane, using just manual labor and the foldable diving platform on a mid-sized sailboat. The type of explosive isn't specified, btw. Apparently it took the team several days and multiple dives on each day to place all the charges.
The political spin is "well yes this is serious and diplomatically dicy, but it could be argued that German critical infrastructure was a legitimate military target, so this wasn't terrorism. Oh, and Nordstream 2 was mostly financed by Russia anyway."
All in all this version of events would work well as an ass-covering for most factions involved. Whether the CIA actually opposed this plot or not is something we'll only find out 30 years from now when they declassify the files.
deleted by creator
TY for your write-up.
Whatever the actual Events, i find it curious that Spiegel comes out with this now. People basically forgot it happened like.. a week after the bombings we're reported first? I doubt anyone cares now. Are they Testing the Waters for a Change in course after the elections next year? Or is it just a favor to some ukrainian operative, fishing for a Promotion?
Or it could just be a measure to garner even more support. I think i already saw some opinion piece headlines saying the bombings we're good actually.