Updated: 7:30am, 9th March, 2023 (AEDT)
Washington DC/Kyiv, Ukraine
Reuters
New intelligence reviewed by US officials suggests that a pro-Ukraine group – likely comprised of Ukrainians or Russians – attacked the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September, but there are no firm conclusions, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
Gas bubbles from the Nord Stream 2 leak reaching surface of the Baltic Sea in the area shows a disturbance of well over one kilometre in diameter near Bornholm, Denmark, on 27th September, 2022. PICTURE: Danish Defence Command/Handout via Reuters
Ukrainian servicemen carry coffins with the bodies of members of the Brotherhood volunteer’s battalion, killed during a raid on Russian territory on 25th December, according to Russian FSB security services, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, during a memorial ceremony in Kyiv, Ukraine, on 7th March, 2023. PICTURE: Reuters/Alina Yarysh
MORE UKRAINIAN UNITS CLAIM RAIDS ON RUSSIAN SOIL; KYIV DISAVOWS THEM
At a memorial service on Tuesday for four Ukrainians killed last year while carrying out a raid on Russian territory, ordinary soldiers rubbed shoulders with volunteer fighters of the Brotherhood Battalion to which those killed belonged.
The ceremony, at the historic gold-domed St Michael’s Cathedral in central Kyiv, underlined the unclear relationship between irregular groups and Ukraine’s formal armed forces fighting against Russia.
The groups’ role in the war is the focus of increasing scrutiny, after several videos purporting to show cross-border sabotage raids into Russian territory have surfaced and the Kremlin has raised the alarm over the security threat. Reuters has not independently verified the videos.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has branded the saboteurs as “terrorists” and urged his security services to bolster defences along the frontier.
The four members of the Brotherhood Battalion later buried in Kyiv were Yurii Horovets, 34, Taras Karpiuk, 38, Maksym Mykhailov, 32 and Bohdan Liagov, 19. They were killed on 25th December last year, according to Russia’s FSB security service, which said at the time that they were armed with foreign-made guns and four improvised explosive devices.
Ukrainian authorities did not comment on the raid then, and have subsequently denied involvement in attacks claimed by Ukrainian-based groups on Russian soil.
Last week, for example, a different group called the Russian Volunteer Corps led by a Russian nationalist in exile who opposes Putin’s rule, said it had briefly taken control of a small border village.
Putin denounced that attack in a televised address, saying: “We will crush them”. Ukraine portrayed it as a false “provocation” by Russia to justify its full-scale invasion.
Later the same day four members of Russia’s National Guard were wounded when their car ran over a mine in the village of Sushany, just across the border from Ukraine, said Alexander Khinstein, a senior federal parliamentarian.
The raids present Kyiv with a dilemma. If regular forces were involved, it would represent a significant escalation in a war that has so far been fought almost exclusively on Ukrainian soil.
But Ukrainian officials have also cast the attacks, which have so far involved small armed groups on limited missions, as a sign Russians may take up arms against their leaders.
“Maybe Russians will begin to wake up,” Ukrainian military intelligence spokesman Andriy Yusov said in response to the operation claimed by the Russian Volunteer Corps.
Ukraine is believed to have struck deep inside Russia on several occasions using drones, though officials decline to confirm them.
“Pain and pride”
At the memorial for the Brotherhood fighters, whose bodies local media said were returned to Ukraine in late February, hundreds of soldiers and civilians crammed into the cathedral’s ornate interior to watch priests bless the coffins.
Mourners lit candles and a man sobbed over one of the caskets.
Outside, as the coffins were being carried into the cathedral, the leader of the nationalist Brotherhood movement which is associated with the Battalion said he felt both “pain and pride”.
“They were one of the most courageous ones to die in battle,” Dmytro Korchynsky, a controversial figure in Ukraine for his ultra-nationalist and devout Orthodox Christian views, told Reuters.
“Our aim is to bring the war over to Russian territory. It’s bad that the war is currently only on our territory, it has to expand to the enemy’s territory as well.”
Korchynsky was careful to distinguish between the battalion’s activities in Ukraine, including areas occupied by Russians – where he said its members coordinate with Ukraine’s armed forces – and those on Russian soil.
“When we are on Russian territory, we act autonomously,” he added.
Ukraine’s defence ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment on its relationship with the Brotherhood Battalion, called “Bratstvo” in Ukrainian, and the armed forces.
The conservative nationalist Brotherhood movement began around 20 years ago to promote Christian values. Western media reports say it has been active in sometimes dangerous combat missions since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Korchynsky said most of the Brotherhood volunteers were Christians, and that the numbers were “constantly growing.
“The battalion has several hundred fighters,” he said. “We can’t disclose precise numbers, as the battalion takes part in investigative and reconnaissance activity.”
– MIKE COLLETT-WHITE and STEFANIIA BERN, Kyiv, Ukraine/Reuters
There was no evidence that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy or other Ukrainian Government officials were behind the attacks which spewed natural gas into the Baltic Sea, the newspaper reported, citing US officials.
Reuters could not independently verify the report.
The 26th September explosions on the pipelines connecting Russia and Germany occurred in the exclusive economic zones of Sweden and Denmark. Both countries have concluded the blasts were deliberate, but have not said who might be responsible.
The United States and NATO have called the pipeline attacks “an act of sabotage,” while Moscow has blamed the West. Neither side has provided evidence.
Denmark, Germany and Sweden said last month that their investigations have not yet concluded. The United States and Britain said on Tuesday they were waiting on those findings.
“We need to let these investigations conclude and only then should we be looking at what follow-on actions might or may not be appropriate,” said White House spokesperson John Kirby.
Germany said on Tuesday it had taken note of the New York Times report but that its own investigation had not yet produced results. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson both declined to comment on the New York Times report during a news conference in Stockholm.
A senior aide to Zelenskiy, Mykhailo Podolyak, said that Kyiv was “absolutely not involved” in the blasts and has no information about what happened.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the media reports on Tuesday underscored the need for Moscow’s questions about what happened to be answered. She also accused those responsible for the media leaks of wanting to divert the public’s attention and avoid a proper investigation.
Opposition to Putin
The pipelines were built by Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom. Gazprom did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday. German energy company E.ON and Wintershall DEA, both shareholders of the Nord Stream pipeline, declined to comment.
In the year since Russia invaded Ukraine, Europe has drastically cut its energy imports from Russia. Moscow this week called for all Nord Stream stakeholders to decide its fate.
The US intelligence review suggested those who carried out the attacks opposed Russian President Vladimir Putin “but does not specify the members of the group, or who directed or paid for the operation,” the New York Times wrote.
“Officials who have reviewed the intelligence said they believed the saboteurs were most likely Ukrainian or Russian nationals, or some combination of the two US officials said no American or British nationals were involved,” according to the New York Times report.
Germany’s ARD broadcaster and Zeit newspaper reported on Tuesday, without citing sources, that German authorities were able to identify the boat used for the sabotage operation.
A Poland-based company owned by Ukrainian citizens had hired a yacht for a group of five men and one woman, which used forged passports, the German media outlets reported. The nationality of the perpetrators is unclear, they reported.
Investigators founds traces of explosives on the yacht, which the group took from Rostock, Germany on Sept. 6, according to ARD and Zeit. They also reported that intelligence indicated that a pro-Ukrainian group could be behind the attack, but German authorities have not yet found any evidence.
Reuters could not independently verify the information.
Russia last month gave the UN Security Council a draft resolution which – if adopted – would ask UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to establish an international, independent investigation into the attack and who was responsible.
Russia’s Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy said the media reports on Tuesday made Russia’s move at the United Nations as “very timely,” telling Reuters that “by the end of March there definitely will be a vote” on the resolution.
– With reporting from MICHELLE NICHOLS in New York, RIHAM ALKOUSAA in Berlin, Germany, and DAVID LJUNGGREN
Clarification: The story has been updated to clarify that German media reported that the alleged perpetrators of the attacks used a yacht hired by a Poland-based company
