Who blew up the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea in September 2022? As the creator of a state, there is much to be said. The investigation is not yet complete. But one or the other already has a concrete suspicion.

At least since the publication of investigative reporter Simon Hersh, many have become convinced that the United States was behind the attack. The country has the means to carry out such a sophisticated attack. Suspicious reason: The US wanted to terminate the always-hated Nord Stream 2 pipeline, thereby harming Russia. The US also wants to sell its fracking gas to Europe and make money from it.

Nord Stream 2 was already dead and buried as a pipeline project when the pipes burst in September 2022.

Donald Trump has fought hard over Nord Stream 2 as US President. But his successor, Joe Biden, initiated a change of strategy, waived sanctions, and sought a solution for Nord Stream 2 with Angela Merkel right at the start of her mandate in 2021. Germany compensates Ukraine and is supported in the energy sector.

When Russian troops then marched to the Ukrainian border in early February 2022, US President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced tough sanctions against Russia at a joint press conference in case the Kremlin attacked Ukraine. Joe Biden promised:

“If Russia (Ukraine) invades, if the tanks cross the border, it will no longer be Nord Stream 2, then we will end it,” Biden said. Olaf Scholz agreed with this statement right after, saying:

That’s how it happened. On February 22, 2022, the day the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics were recognized by the Russian State Duma, Germany suspended approval for Nord Stream 2. Biden and Scholz’s announcement thus came to life two days before the Russian war. aggression: Nord Stream 2 is history. There was no reason for the US government to destroy an already stalled pipeline.

What about the Nord Stream 1 pipeline? Germany got most of its natural gas through this pipe and the US wanted to sell its broken gas – is that a reason?

There are two reasons against this:

• First, global demand for US cracked gas had already increased sharply since 2021, with US gas having no problem selling expensive and itself suffering from high demand due to high prices.

• Second, Germany was mired in a deep gas crisis, there was a serious risk of recession. By attacking Nord Stream 1, the US government would have economically weakened one of its most important allies in the war, which was against US interests.

Russia had already begun to put pressure on Germany before attacking Ukraine. Gazprom cut off gas supplies in Germany and evacuated gas storage facilities. After the war began, the Kremlin created a kind of “financial crisis 2.0” in the gas market: Gazprom shot down its German subsidiary Gazprom Germania.

Then the Kremlin pushed Germany’s largest gas trader Uniper into the abyss and Gazprom delivered un-agreed quantities. Uniper was on the verge of bankruptcy and had to be nationalized. About a month before the attack, Russia stopped all gas supplies, including Nord Stream 1.

Russia’s goal: to destabilize Germany, to damage the economy so that the pressure on the federal government to stay out of the war, stop supporting Ukraine.

For decades, Russia’s gas pipelines to Germany looked like the notorious golden donkey with gold ducats rat. So why would Russia hurt itself by destroying its profitable pipelines?

Even before the pipelines were destroyed, Russia had shown that it was ready to harm itself economically if the goal of weakening Germany was achieved: Gazprom shot down Gazprom Germania and almost completely stopped its deliveries to Germany.

After the explosion, however, Russia for a long time gave up its means of repression in order to deliver gas via Nord Stream 1 and thus earn money again. This is against Russia’s interests.

Since the beginning of the war, Ukraine has demanded a ban on the import of Russian gas into Germany in order to deprive Russia of the source of income for the war chest. In the end, it was not Germany that stopped imports, but Gazprom itself, which stopped all deliveries via Nord Stream. The explosion of the pipelines prevented Gazprom from continuing its supply via Nord Stream. It is in Ukraine’s interest.

Ukraine was against the Nord Stream project from the beginning because it allowed Russia to cut off gas to Ukraine while continuing to supply gas to the West and make a lot of money from it.

Ukraine needs Germany and wants Germany to continue to supply weapons. The attack on Nord Stream further depressed the German economy, with observers fearing a warm autumn and a harsh winter in Germany as support for the Ukraine cause wanes. This is not in Ukraine’s interest.

Hans Koberstein is an editor at ZDF Frontal.