Russian ships were near the sites of explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipeline at least three times

Journalists from the Nordic public broadcasters have found that Russian ships were near the explosion sites of the Nord Stream gas pipeline at least three times last year. 

Finnish Yle, Norwegian NRK, Swedish SVT, and Danish DR published the investigation.

The journalists established that on June 6, 2022, a Russian Navy ship sailed from a naval base in the Kaliningrad region to the east of Bornholm, where it arrived on the morning of June 7. The ship spent several hours near or possibly at the location of Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines.

According to official information provided by the Danish authorities, three of the four leaks that occurred in the pipe due to the explosion occurred at these points.

It is not known exactly which vessel was involved in this incident.

Another incident occurred on June 14, 2022, when a Russian navy ship was at this location until June 15. It was most likely the Russian military research vessel Sibiryakov, which is based in Lomonosov, near St Petersburg. This ship does not normally operate in the Baltic Sea in this area. The vessel itself is designed for seabed mapping and underwater reconnaissance.

A satellite image taken on June 15 shows that the Sibiryakov was in the area of the leak site. The image also shows two other ships that did not report their location. They were a few hundred metres and several kilometres away from the leak sites.

The last time a Russian ship was spotted near this location was just under a week before the explosions in September 2022. 

According to radio communications, it was the SB-123 tugboat, which arrived in the Bornholm area near the Nord Stream pipelines on the evening of September 21. The vessel remained in the area until September 22. A radio signal from the ship was also received in the morning of September 22.

The gas pipe leaks occurred four days later.

In April, the Danish government confirmed to Information magazine that on September 22, the Russian Navy SS-750 ship was also spotted near the leak sites. It is equipped with a mini-submarine.