Germany, Sweden Will Investigate Nord Stream Pipeline Blasts Without Russia

Swedish and German investigations of the suspected "sabotage" that caused leaks in the Nord Stream gas pipelines are moving forward without the involvement of Russia.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Monday that Russia would be explicitly excluded from participating in a separate and ongoing probe of the leaks detected last month in the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines. The lines were designed to deliver natural gas from Russia to Germany.

Andersson said that any preliminary results of Sweden's "confidential" investigation would not be shared with Russia, with the caveat that Sweden was powerless to stand in the way of Russian ships visiting the area of the explosions and potentially conducting their own investigations, according to Reuters.

Sweden previously said that a crime scene investigation of the leak sites had uncovered evidence of "detonations" in the pipelines and "strengthened the suspicions of gross sabotage."

Germany's federal public prosecutor's office announced another investigation into "anti-constitutional sabotage" and "deliberate" explosions at the pipelines on Monday, according to German news agency DPA. Russia is not expected to be a part of Germany's probe, although no specific statement about Russian participation was made.

Russian involvement in the probe was explicitly ruled out after an examination of the leaks by Denmark last week, prompting Russian authorities to suggest that they may launch their own probe, according to RadioFreeEurope.

Western countries have suggested that Russia may be responsible for any sabotage that caused the leaks with the intention of pinning the blame on the West. Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that Western "Anglo-Saxons" were behind the leaks.

Theories claiming that President Joe Biden was responsible have spread among some U.S. conservatives after being promoted by Fox News pundit Tucker Carlson. Carlson's comments have also been echoed in the Russian state-run media.

While neither pipeline was operating at the time they were damaged—Russia shut down Nord Stream 1 in late August and Nord Stream 2 never launched due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine—the damage caused large amounts of natural gas to leak into the Baltic Sea off the coasts of Denmark and Sweden.

Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin reportedly requested that Russian authorities and the state-run natural gas company Gazprom, which owns 51 percent of Nord Stream, be allowed to actively participate in the Swedish investigation last week. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said that not allowing Russian participation "means there is something to hide."

Gazprom said on Monday that a NATO-owned Seafox anti-mine drone had been discovered at Nord Stream 1 in 2015. Nord Stream said last week that Swedish, Norwegian and Danish authorities were blocking the company from examining the pipelines.

Newsweek has reached out to the Russian government for comment.