A senior Ukrainian military officer with intelligence ties is said to have coordinated the sabotage attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year, according to reports from The Washington Post and Der Spiegel on Saturday. The reports cited anonymous Ukrainian and European officials, as well as other individuals familiar with the operation.
The subsea blasts that ruptured Nord Streams 1 and 2, gas arteries between Russia and Europe via the Baltic Sea, have led to finger-pointing between Moscow and Kyiv’s Western allies. The attacks occurred seven months into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
According to The Washington Post, the role of the officer provides the most direct evidence to date linking Ukraine’s military and security leadership to the mysterious September 2022 attack.
Colonel Roman Chervinsky, 48, who served in Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces, was reportedly the “coordinator” of the Nord Stream operation, managing logistics and support for a team of six people that rented a sailboat under false identities and used deep-sea diving equipment to place explosive charges on the gas pipelines.
The Washington Post also reported that Chervinsky took orders from more senior Ukrainian officials who reported to General Valery Zaluzhny, the head of the Ukrainian military. However, Chervinsky has denied any involvement through his lawyer, and spokespeople for the Ukrainian government did not respond to questions about his participation.
In March, The New York Times reported that U.S. officials had seen intelligence indicating that a “pro-Ukrainian group” was responsible for the sabotage. Despite these reports, Ukraine has denied any role in the Nord Stream attack.
The attack severely damaged Russia’s ability to sell natural gas to Western Europe, causing a surge in energy prices on the continent. Nord Stream 1 had accounted for 40% of the European Union’s gas supplies via Germany, and Russia had cut flows to 20% before halting the pipeline’s operations altogether.
Nord Stream 2 was due to double export capacities to 110 billion cubic meters, but the project never received authorization due to Russia’s recognition of Ukraine’s separatist regions as independent states ahead of Moscow’s full-scale invasion. Investigations into the Nord Stream sabotage are currently being conducted by Denmark, Germany, and Sweden.
