Image: from brane mijatovic X @brane_mija64426
By Chronicle Staff with Agencies
BERLIN — Explosive new findings have cast a shadow over the geopolitical fallout of the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, suggesting that U.S. intelligence may not have just known about the plan, but initially served as “sympathetic listeners” to the Ukrainian commandos who carried it out.
An investigation published Thursday by DER SPIEGEL reveals that CIA operatives were in contact with the saboteurs during the planning stages of the 2022 attack. The revelation threatens to ignite a diplomatic firestorm between Washington, Berlin, and Kyiv, as it suggests the West’s primary intelligence agency was privy to an attack on the critical energy infrastructure of one of its closest NATO allies.
Technical Discussions and Early Warnings
The report, citing high-level insiders, claims that U.S. agents met with members of the Ukrainian planning team in the spring of 2022—months before the explosions near the Danish island of Bornholm. During these interactions, technical details of the underwater sabotage were reportedly discussed.
While the CIA eventually changed its stance and warned Kyiv against proceeding with the operation, the reporting suggests the initial American response was far more ambiguous. For the German government, which has provided billions in aid to Ukraine, the possibility that its most vital intelligence partner was aware of a plot to destroy its energy lifeline is a “highly uncomfortable” development.
The “Andromeda” Trail
The investigation centers on the circle of Roman Chervinsky, a former Ukrainian intelligence officer and specialist in covert operations. Chervinsky is considered the mastermind behind the mission, which saw a team of divers charter a yacht named Andromeda to plant military-grade explosives on the seabed.
One member of that team, Serhiy K., is currently being held in pretrial detention in Hamburg. German investigators have labeled the operation “highly likely” to have been state-directed by Ukraine. According to the report, Chervinsky’s elite unit was co-established by the CIA after the 2014 Maidan Revolution, highlighting the deep, long-standing ties between the commandos and their American counterparts.
A Delicate Alliance
The political implications of these findings are staggering. Since the September 2022 blasts, the Nord Stream attack has been a source of intense speculation and finger-pointing. If it is proven that U.S. intelligence provided a platform for the planners, even if they later discouraged the act, it raises fundamental questions about the transparency of the “Ramstein” coalition supporting Ukraine.
In Berlin, the Chancellor’s Office has remained tight-lipped, but opposition figures are already calling for a full inquiry into what the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) knew and when they were briefed by their colleagues in Langley.
As the legal case against Serhiy K. progresses in Germany, the “Andromeda” investigation is no longer just a hunt for saboteurs; it has become a search for the truth about the secret conversations that preceded the most significant act of industrial sabotage in modern European history.