A new theory about saboteurs has emerged in the Nord Stream case
A court case is underway in London regarding insurance payouts for the explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines, with the parties presenting differing accounts of the events of 2022. The pipeline operator, linked to Gazprom, insists on the version involving saboteurs not affiliated with any state, while insurance companies believe a state could have been behind the incident, the Financial Times reports.
A trial regarding insurance payouts following the 2022 explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines has begun at the High Court in London. At the heart of the case is the operator’s claim for €580 million in compensation and an attempt to determine whether the incident falls under insurance coverage.
Nord Stream AG, which is controlled by majority shareholder Gazprom, maintains in its position that the sabotage was not necessarily a state-sponsored act and could have been carried out by a small group of perpetrators with no ties to governments.
Company representatives state that experts from both sides have reached a conclusion regarding the method of the explosion. “Experts from both sides of the process agreed that the explosives on the pipelines were likely installed manually using magnets by a group of just four divers,” said attorney Paul Stanley, who represents Nord Stream.
According to him, this was the work of “non-state saboteurs,” not official entities. At the same time, the insurance companies Lloyd’s Insurance Company and Arch Insurance hold the opposite position. They argue that the explosions could be linked to one of the states—Russia, Ukraine, or the U.S.—and therefore, the incident may fall under an exclusion in the insurance contract as a consequence of war.
The legal proceedings are ongoing, and the key issue lies not only in identifying the possible perpetrators but also in determining whether the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines should be considered an insured event or a consequence of military action.
Additionally, Viktor Orbán, the Prime Minister of Hungary, stated that the Druzhba oil pipeline was shut down due to actions related to the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, which, according to him, were carried out by Ukrainians.
