STOCKHOLM, Feb. 26 (Xinhua) — Denmark has closed its investigation into the 2022 explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines, police said on Monday.
Although the investigation had found that the blasts were the result of sabotage, there were insufficient grounds to bring the matter to court in Denmark, the Danish police said in a press release.
Three weeks ago, their Swedish counterparts came to the same decision.
The Danish police said that the investigation had been thorough and that they had cooperated with foreign partners.
The press release did not specify which these foreign partners were, but Swedish authorities said previously that they had shared evidence with their counterparts in Germany.
The Swedish Prosecution Authority announced earlier this month that its investigation into the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions had been closed, adding that “the conclusion of the investigation is that Swedish jurisdiction does not apply.”
The explosions, which took place on Sept. 26, 2022, destroyed the pipelines built to transport gas from Russia to Germany. Four leaks were discovered in the Swedish and Danish exclusive economic zones of the Baltic Sea in September 2022, and Sweden soon opened an investigation into the matter.
On Nov. 18, 2022, the Swedish Prosecution Authority said that the pipelines had been deliberately damaged, based on “the crime scene investigations that were carried out on-site in the Baltic Sea.”
In February 2023, Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh revealed that the United States had partnered with Norway in a top-secret operation in June 2022 to plant remotely triggered explosives that took out three of the four Nord Stream pipelines three months later. Washington has denied such an allegation.
Mats Ljungqvist, the Swedish prosecutor leading the probe, said in April 2023 that a state actor “directly or at least indirectly behind all this” was the “absolute main scenario,” without naming any country.
Sweden, Denmark and Germany have been investigating the incident separately. Russia had repeatedly called for a joint investigation, but the calls had been rejected.
