Poland rejects reports of involvement in Nord Stream sabotage

Poland denied on Thursday reports of its possible involvement in the blowing up of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea last autumn.

"There is no evidence of any involvement of Polish citizens in the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipeline," the Pomerania regional department of the organized crime and corruption division of the National Prosecutor's Office in Gdansk told dpa.

However, investigations indicated that a yacht, which according to earlier reports could have been used by a sabotage team, had sailed to Poland.

A fortnight ago, the Wall Street Journal reported that German investigators were examining evidence that the sabotage team may have used Poland as an operational base.

According to the report, the sailing yacht Andromeda, which was targeted by investigators in connection with the attacks, had sailed into Polish territorial waters. There are also indications that Poland served as a logistical and financial centre for the attack.

The prosecutor's office said there was "no direct evidence that the persons on the Andromeda yacht were involved in damaging the Nord Stream pipeline."

Investigations indicated that the vessel had indeed sailed to Poland with six people and had called at a port. After a 12-hour stay, however, it left Polish territorial waters again. No objects were taken on board during the stay.

The public prosecutor's office added that it was not able to give more detailed information on the investigations because doing so might jeopardize them.

In addition, a request for legal assistance had been sent to Germany and other countries. According to research by the Die Zeit and Süddeutsche Zeitung newspapers and the broadcaster ARD, among others, the port of call in Poland was Kołobrzeg.

Citing investigators, the Polish daily newspaper Rzeczpospolita and the news agency PAP have reported that there was no evidence that the yacht had sailed from Poland to the area where the pipelines were blown up.

Nord Stream 1 and 2 run from Russia to Germany as an underwater double pipeline. At the end of September, four leaks were discovered in the pipelines after explosions.