There has been a whirlwind of disinformation around the blasts, further muddying the waters. The sabotage was always likely to be controversial and surrounded by rumors: Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has heated global tensions and put pressure on diplomats around the world. (Hersh has defended his article, while US officials have said it was false.) Alexander has used, among other things, ship-tracking data to show Norwegian ships were “accounted for” and not in a “position to have placed the explosives on the Nord Stream pipeline, as claimed by Hersh.” Another detailed article from Norwegian journalists has similarly poured cold water on Hersh’s claims, partly using satellite data. Similarly, OSINT has been used to debunk Hersh’s story claiming the United States was behind the explosions. The sleuthing adds public details to the reports. (The Andromeda is reportedly too small to be required to use ship-tracking systems.) Years-old videos and photos of the boat have surfaced. Webcam footage from the harbor where it is believed the Andromeda was docked shows the movement of a boat around the time reported by the publications. A follow-up report soon named the boat under suspicion as the Andromeda, a 15-meter-long yacht. Alexander, as well as contributors to the open-source investigative outlet Bellingcat, started following the breadcrumbs, narrowing down potential vessels. The details were enough for OSINT researchers to start tracking down which yacht could have been used. “In my mind, they don’t really alter the picture,” Kaarsbo says, adding the attacks look highly complex and would likely be “very hard to pull off without it being a state actor or at least with state sponsorship.” Jacob Kaarsbo, a senior analyst at Think Tank Europa, who previously worked in Danish intelligence for 15 years, says the claims have been “remarkable” but also “speculative” in nature.
(European leaders have previously speculated Russia could be behind the attacks, and Russia has blamed the United Kingdom.) No country has claimed responsibility for the blasts so far, and official investigations are ongoing.Įach of the recent reports has provided little hard evidence to show what may actually have happened, while helping to fuel speculation.
This was followed by reports in The New York Times and German publication Die Zeit claiming a pro-Ukrainian group was responsible. First, American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published claims that the US was behind attacks in a post on Substack.
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