Page 5 - EurOil Week 11 2023

EurOil COMMENTARY EurOil

The Andromeda yacht.
Credit: UWE DRIEST.

reported last week that days before the blasts, a have needed a decompression chamber for the
group of people rented a boat in north Germany, divers that would not have been able to fit on the
some of whom presented Ukrainian passports. yacht.
The newspaper was citing a senior German gov- Another question is whether there would
ernment official who had seen a report summa- have been sufficient room on the yacht for the
rising the results of the country’s probe into the explosives. The Danish and Swedish govern-
incidents. ments have concluded that the blasts were equiv-
Meanwhile, German prosecutors said this alent to the power of “several hundred kilograms
week that investigators had searched a boat in of explosive.” Some experts estimate that up to
January thought to have been used for the bomb- 2,000 kg of explosives would have been needed,
ings. The WSJ received confirmation from Mola according to the Guardian.
Yachting GmbH, a charter firm based on Rugen, Following the blasts, Western officials ini-
that the Andromeda was that vessel. tially speculated that Russia was to blame for the
The Andromeda is described on Mola Yacht- attacks, although according to the WSJ, US and
ing’s website as a Bavaria Cruiser 50 model, German government officials no longer think
equipped with a small diving platform and a that this is the case. It is unclear what motiva-
75-horsepower diesel engine. The German gov- tion Moscow would have for sabotaging its own
ernment official who spoke with the WSJ said pipelines, given that gas flow to Germany was
traces of explosives had been found on the yacht a major source of revenue and provided the
that was searched. Kremlin with leverage over Europe. Russia had
Casting further doubt on what happened, the ability to boost gas supply if Germany and
however, Der Spiegel noted that each dive would other countries in Europe made concessions in
have required the boat to remain above the pipe- the Ukrainian conflict.
lines for around three hours, and to have planted Notably, Russia has also dismissed that
explosives on two pipelines 4 km apart would Ukraine was behind the attacks, continuing to
likely have taken four dives over a few days. insist that they were orchestrated by the US and
According to the Guardian newspaper, diving the UK. Like Washington, the UK too has denied
experts say that such extended deep dives would involvement. ™

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