Tuesday, November 28, 2023

The origin of "remote detonated explosives" claim used for destroying Nordstream in the news

Remote explosives or old reliable timers?


1. Google News:

These news on 27, 28th and 29th of September seem to be first which mention remote triggered explosives - here (keyword search "Nord Stream remote explosives"):



27 Oct 2022 - BLACK OPS How divers from Putin’s special ops sabotage unit could have blown up Nord Stream gas pipeline right under Nato’s noses

A CRACK force of divers from a shadowy Russian special ops unit could be behind the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipeline, security experts have claimed.

Spetsnaz frogmen - a secretive branch of the Russian military - and underwater drones could have been deployed to blow up the strategically-important supply route...

Western leaders have accused Russia of sabotaging the line to stoke an energy crisis in Europe ahead of winter. 

Royal Danish Defence College researcher Anders Puck Nielsen echoed those concerns, saying that Putin's frogmen could easily hoist remote-controlled explosives onto the pipeline.

[MRT: this is the claim that explosives were delivered by a pigging equipment]  

28 Sept 2022 - Leaks to Nord Stream pipelines were likely a premeditated attack using explosive devices detonated remotely, says British defence source (The Sun)

The source said any mines could have been lowered to the seabed on a long line, dropped over the side of a boat or placed next to the Nord Stream pipelines with an underwater drone months or even years ago.

A suspected act of sabotage - possibly by Russia - against gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea was likely a premeditated attack using underwater explosive devices detonated remotely, according to a British defence source.

[MRT: this news looks like the first one using the remote controlled explosives]   

28 Sept 2022 - EEP COVER Inside Russia elite ‘Frogmen’ special forces armed with underwater guns and fleet of trained killer dolphins

RUSSIAN special forces are one of the prime suspects in the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines which has triggered a disaster in the Baltic Sea.

Vladimir Putin's regime are feared to have attacked the key gas link in an effort to continue stoking the brewing energy war with Europe amid tensions over Ukraine.

Behind the attack could have been the so-called "Frogmen" special forces commandos - who work for both the Russian Navy and Putin's spies, the GRU, who were behind the Salisbury poisonings in 2018.

It is feared Russia could have either used deep sea divers or drone submarines to trigger massive explosions which blew two holes in Nord Stream 1 and one hole in Nord Stream 2.

Putin's equivalent of the SAS, Spetsnaz troopers have a reputation for being well armed, highly trained and ruthless.

And the so-called "Frogmen" with their all-black wet suits and distinctive underwater guns are specialised to carry out operations in the deep.

PIPELINE PANIC

The frogmen are also trained that if the guns don't work, they switch over to blades for brutal underwater combat.

But as drones become more and more prevalent - so have the frogmen adapted, bringing remote controlled mini subs into their arsenal.

2. Twitter/X

The first mention of the keyword search "Nord Stream explosives remotely" is here 

27 Sept 2022 - this tweet which leads to the The Guardian news:

27 Sept 2022Whether or not Russia was behind the Nord Stream blasts, little was at stake  

It may never be possible to determine definitively whether Monday’s underwater explosions at the two Nord Stream gas pipelines were the work of Russian sabotage, but it is certainly the way to bet.

The incidents took place close to – but just outside – the 12-mile territorial waters of Denmark’s Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, the kind of calibration that might be expected from a state actor mindful of the country’s Nato membership.

One British military source speculated that mines may have been discreetly laid from a disguised commercial vessel and detonated days or weeks later. That would be an operation that would need to have been undertaken with some care, but not particularly specialised military resources.

This last part is guesswork and western officials were quick to stress on Tuesday that the explosions appeared to have affected Russian-owned assets.

The Nord Stream 1 pipeline between Russia and Germany is 51% owned by Gazprom, the St Petersburg-headquartered energy giant, while Nord Stream 2 is owned by a Swiss subsidiary of the same company. None of those assets would, by this thinking, demand any kind of Nato or other western military response.

29 Sept 2022 - The Nord Stream pipelines were likely attacked with remotely detonated explosives, says UK defense source: report

A UK defense source says the Nord Stream pipelines were likely attacked with remote explosives.

The source told Sky News the bombs could have been planted years before the leaks occurred.

A source within the British defense force said that the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were likely attacked with remotely-detonated explosives.

Speaking to Sky News, the unnamed source said the leak in both pipelines was likely the result of a pre-planned attack.

The source told the outlet that mines could have been planted along the underwater pipelines using a long line, by dropping them from a boat, or with a drone, months or years before the attack.

The British source's message to Sky News came the same day that CNN reported on new information regarding the pipeline leaks.

29 Sept 2022 - First on CNN: European security officials observed Russian Navy ships in vicinity of Nord Stream pipeline leaks

CNN — European security officials on Monday and Tuesday observed Russian Navy support ships in the vicinity of leaks in the Nord Stream pipelines likely caused by underwater explosions, according two Western intelligence officials and one other source familiar with the matter.

It’s unclear whether the ships had anything to do with those explosions, these sources and others said – but it’s one of the many factors that investigators will be looking into.

Russian submarines were also observed not far from those areas last week, one of the intelligence officials said.


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Related?

21 Sept 2023 - Rupert Murdoch stepping down as chair of Fox and News Corp

Sky's business presenter Ian King said: "This is a handing over of the reins by Rupert Murdoch to his eldest son. Who would succeed Mr Murdoch has long been a source of great speculation - his other son James was seen as a contender for that some time ago."

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