Russian Navy ‘operated submarine near Nord Stream’ days before attack

The Russian Navy is believed to have operated a mini-submarine at the Nord Stream gas pipelines days before the explosions, according to German reports.

Citing security sources, publication t-online suggest a unit of the Russian navy is said to have operated “like a ghost” without transmitting location data and placed explosive devices at the pipeline.

It suggests there may have been suspicious activity detected in the area in the days leading up to the attack on two gas pipes on September 26 last year, which destroyed pipes that sent natural gas from Russia to Germany along the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

Previous theories about the explosion have included that the US or a “pro-Ukrainian group”was behind the Nord Stream sabotage.

But t-online claims that a submarine support ship may have been involved, and had on board a deep-submergence rescue vehicle which had gripper arms that can move cargo weighing up to 50 kilograms underwater.

Explosive charges could have been attached to the pipelines using the mini-submarine, experts suspect.

"It would make absolute sense to use something like the ‘AS-26’ for such an attack," Danish corvette captain and military analyst Johannes Riber told t-online.

“That would be the most plausible explanation so far for what happened to the Nord Stream pipeline."

The mini-submarine is usually part of the Russian Navy’s Baltic Fleet but publicly available satellite imagery seen by t-online shows that it left the port on September 21, along with two other ships suspected to be involved in the operation.

The US and Nato have called the September 26 attacks “an act of sabotage”, while Russia has blamed the West and called for an independent probe. Neither has provided evidence.