2y ago

Ukrainian military officer coordinated Nord Stream pipeline attack

www.washingtonpost.com

Roman Chervinsky, a colonel in Ukraine’s special operations forces, was integral to the brazen sabotage operation of the Russia-Germany pipeline, say people familiar with the planning.

27 comments

Whatever the case, it was a major win for greenhouse gas reductions in Europe. We can thank whoever did it for that.
- Well, you might be right, unless you know.. umm if it’s replaced by coal.
  Germany made a mistake by scrapping nuclear plants plan. Sure, green energy development has been in steady progress but it cannot be a primary source as of now.
  
  The natural gas through the pipelines is not owned by the transit or endpoint country. Same with Nord Stream, Germany is used as distribution hub in central Europe. E.g. after Poland closed their pipeline to Russia, their natural gas supply from Russia was simply transferred via Nord Stream and Germany, from the other side across the border into Poland.
  And even with natural gas that stays in German storages, it's not owned by Germany. It's owned by private companies that sell it during winter to the highest bidder. German gas storage can supply other countries that have high demand and smaller storage capacities in a cold winter.
  So regarding the resource replacement, it depends on the country that uses the natural gas at the end.
  Looking at natural gas in Germany, the usage for electricity generation is relatively low (~7-12% over the last 5 years). It's more often used by the industry and for it's chemical properties, as well as heating in homes. You cannot just replace that with coal or nuclear ovens. But overall there is a plan to increase the capacity for electricity generation over the next few years as backup for the coal phaseout during low renewable generation. The new gas plants are intended for natural gas and later hydrogen.
  
  No. We didnt make a mistake by scrapping nuclear plants. They are uneconommical and we have no safe storage for the waste they produce. We made a mistake much earlier when we let china buy all our solar tech.
- Not really. That was methane that escaped straight into the atmosphere. It was a climate disaster.
- Sigh...
  Nations will not stop using fossil fuels as long as it remains the cheapest option.
  
  Coal power is being killed in Australia by renewable energy as it is comparatively cheap to install and has ridiculously low operating costs.
And all this time I thought it was an US operation so that Europe would have to start buying gas from the USA
- That always seemed like a lot of risk to me for marginal gain from a US perspective. Ukraine on the other hand can argue justification as this is critical infrastructure for a nation they are at war with.
  
  Yeah, that was my intuition. The US has a lot of other levers to get its way, chiefly by diplomacy and leading the way in weapons donations. It would be devastating if the US was found out to have done this. A few people in Ukraine's military just makes more sense, particularly if they don't have any connection to high ranking leaders.
- The pipeline was already completely shut down. I doubt Europe will be too keen on exposing itself to the risk that Russia poses again.
  
  Perhaps, but I’m sure we’ll find a worse partner in the coming years
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A senior Ukrainian military officer with deep ties to the country’s intelligence services played a central role in the bombing of the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines last year, according to officials in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe, as well as other people knowledgeable about the details of the covert operation.
The officer’s role provides the most direct evidence to date tying Ukraine’s military and security leadership to a controversial act of sabotage that has spawned multiple criminal investigations and that U.S. and Western officials have called a dangerous attack on Europe’s energy infrastructure.
While Gazprom, the Russian state-owned gas conglomerate, owns 51 percent of Nord Stream, Western energy companies, including from Germany, France and the Netherlands, are partners and invested billions in the project.
“All speculations about my involvement in the attack on Nord Stream are being spread by Russian propaganda without any basis,” Chervinsky said in a written statement to The Washington Post and Der Spiegel, which conducted a joint investigation of his role.
Authorities allege that Chervinsky, who was arrested in April, acted without permission and that the operation gave away the coordinates of a Ukrainian airfield, prompting a Russian rocket attack that killed a soldier and injured 17 others.
Nearly a month before the explosions, Gazprom stopped flows on Nord Stream 1, hours after the Group of Seven industrialized nations announced a forthcoming price cap on Russian oil, a move intended to put a dent in the Kremlin’s treasury.
The original article contains 1,823 words, the summary contains 243 words. Saved 87%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Good.
If this is true Ukraine committed a terrorist attack on germany and therefore should not be accepted in EU anytime in the near future.
- As a german I hardcore disagree. I'm really glad that pipeline is gone and our government couldn' back pedal on the sanctions. The actions of some dude in the UA military shouldn't have any implications on their EU membership either.
- Ukraine won't be accepted anyway.

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