The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valery Zaluzhny, proposed to blow up not only the Nord Stream, but also the Turkish Stream in the Black Sea, writes the German Der Spiegel. However, the operation was unsuccessful. This is reported by the German publication Der Spiegel , citing its own sources.
The publication describes in detail the details of the pipeline explosion in the Baltic Sea.
The attack was allegedly carried out by about 12 Ukrainians (including one woman) – military and civilians, trained by a group that has repeatedly planned and carried out covert operations for Ukrainian intelligence services. The operation was called “Diameter” and cost up to 300,000 euros.
Spiegel says it knows their names, but is not naming them for security reasons. It also claims that there is ample evidence that Ukraine was involved in this sabotage.
They used a special explosive disguised as an air cylinder. A retired demolition expert named "Grandpa" helped prepare it. The bomb was placed near the joints of the pipes, where they have weaker protection. It was delivered on a rented yacht that can accommodate up to 12 people in five cabins.
Spiegel spoke in Kyiv with a so-called special forces expert named Andriy, who said he was close to preparing the operation. One of the organizers of the attack is again named as intelligence officer Roman Chervinsky, who once trained at the CIA.
The training was conducted in a lake in Ukraine and a flooded mine. Volunteers to perform the operation applied themselves - amateur divers, air conditioning specialists, IT administrators. Out of 20, 5 were selected. Among them - the previously mentioned Volodymyr Zh.
In April 2022, the operation was brought to the commander-in-chief for approval. He was pleased that Zelensky was not aware of it – “these people would not trust the president and his entourage.” Zaluzhny liked the operation so much that he suggested expanding it to the Black Sea – to the TurkStream. But this attack “will later fail.”.
In June, Western intelligence agencies learned about the operation, and a CIA representative came to Zelenskyy, which is how the president learned about the preparations. An order was given to cancel it. The leaders of the operation decided to wait, and in August the divers with the bomb went to Poland. There they waited for fake documents from Bulgaria and Romania, very nervous that they would go to prison.
At sea, the saboteurs managed a maximum of one dive per day, encountered a lot of difficulties, got seasick, the girl turned out to be the bravest – she “had the biggest balls of all”. They were checked in the Polish port and the data was recorded, but the crew was lucky.
In the end, they planted six bombs, but one did not explode, leaving Pipe B of Nord Stream 2 untouched.
Previously, other German and Western publications also wrote about Zaluzhny's role in the undermining of "Potoki".
Ukraine denies any involvement in this action.
