Who Sabotaged the Russian-German Pipeline?

The world is in the middle of a massive whodunnit: who sabotaged the Nord Stream pipeline? This video covers the evidence known so far, who the main suspects are, and what their motivations might be.

0:00 The Nord Stream Sabotage
0:27 The Evidence
4:07 Putin and the Russian Government
7:52 Russian Hardliners
10:06 Russian Partisans
11:41 Ukraine
13:28 German Hardliners
14:13 NATO Countries
16:19 Gas Exporters

The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement.

By US Navy:

By OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine:

By Ministry of Defense of Ukraine:

By 1RNK:

[Invertatude]

I think William Spaniel blew up the pipes in order to create an ongoing series following the "who-done-it" mystery and grow his channel.

[mr.normalguy]

Among us, but this time, it's the world leaders who are playing it.

[Lrman]

As a Norwegian I like the idea of it being us elliminating the competition. But our leaders don't have the balls to pull off a stunt like this.

[randomname]

3 months later, everyone seems to have just forgotten this happened

[dg]

I must never be on a jury. Each and every time he named a suspect I totally started suspecting them.

[Ifyoucanreadthisgooglebroke]

The thing I get a kick out of is how basically everyone had reasons to do or want this, but it is important for all actors that they not get the blame for it and play like this hurts/insults them or they are otherwise outraged. Those are the best whodunnits.

[Strike_Raid]

I imagine that the original sabotage was intended to destroy all four pipelines, but one of the devices failed to function. Therefore, the unexploded device is still there and if located could provide the evidence of who was responsible.

[altiramoongara]

The Nordstream pipelines are well within technical diving range and training is available to private citizens (at least in the US but I can't imagine that it would be that different in Europe). The oil industry has access to more advanced equipment than what is available to private citizens that is capable of operating at those depths. To me, these facts increase the number of possible suspects.

[tomykas]

It's funny how you described how each suspect would benefit from it, and in the end they all did. They just don't know who to thank now.

[Dogsnark]

It’s like an Agatha Christie mystery, a real who dun-it where everyone in the room has a motive and an alibi. Too bad she’s no longer around to reveal the guilty party!

[reviolkande]

I think Poland specifically deserves a spot in the list. They have strong motives, currently have bad relations with Germany and Russia at the same time and they have a "bit recless" government. They are close to the location and have everything needed to perform such an attack. At the same time, they dont show up on the list at first intention as everyone blames Russia or the US at first.

[nooneinparticular]

There is such a thing as pipeline inspection robots. They travel inside the pipeline to inspect for damage. It would be pretty simple to strap a bomb to one and detonate it at exactly the spot you wanted. It has the advantage of not needing a boat, or divers, which could be spotted by any passing ship. The only thing you would need is access to one end of the pipeline.

[ecdhe]

The bottom line is that *someone* somewhere decided that infrastructure sitting in international waters was fair game. Which is a very reckless move.

[Neves]

It is kind of nuts that literally every player has a motive to have the pipeline destroyed.

[jameshartley]

The UK government couldn't organise a piss up in brewery right now so count us out!
Fascinating analysis as always sir

[kiriseraph]

Could it be that someone in Nato was in secret talks with Russia and negotiating for them to reopen the pipeline and so someone else in Nato blew it up to end the negotiations?

[FoxtrotYouniform]

Ive been trying to mentally formulate how this turns out, and I imagine given the sudden much more extreme vulnerability of Europes remaining gas supply that it won't be long till NATO vessels are patrolling the Baltic Sea on a high alert footing.

[LetUsReasonTogetheyr]

Great analysis. My wife and I have been debating the Russian theory. While I don't put anything past the Russians at this point, I made the point that it didn't make much sense since Russia already controlled whether the gas flowed or not, and that by physically crippling the pipes they lose their most powerful bargaining chip just before the winter when it would potentially become most valuable. William's discussion of how this could make sense based on internal Russian politics helps me see why it might "make sense", at least to a given faction.

[clausholm]

All pipelines have maintenance pigs, robots who travel the pipes back and forth. The easiest thing is to have those mining the pipes and blow them. Satellite surveillance is so intense that any surface boat is registered.

[hardstyleisareligion]

Nearly all subsea pipelines have a maintenance plan in case a small or large leak occurs (eg damage from ship anchor) and all pipeline companies have access to special tools (dependent on pipeline diameter etc) and spare lengths of pipe to repair any damage. It is important to repair the damaged section and flush the pipeline of seawater in a limited time period to avoid long term damage to the pipeline.

Any who dun it theory, would need to factor in if a repair is underway and if not, which parties are stopping the repair.