German investigators name Zelensky rival as Nord Stream sabotage mastermind – media

Ex-Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny is reportedly building a campaign team from London to run for president.

Former Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny commissioned the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines in 2022, German newspaper Die Welt reported on Monday, citing an investigator familiar with the matter.

According to the newspaper, German investigators believe they have cracked the case of the attacks on the Nord Stream 1 and 2, which run under the Baltic Sea and were built to carry Russian natural gas directly to Germany.

Previous Western media reports claimed that the authorities already knew the identities of the entire crew – reportedly made up of Ukrainian nationals – aboard the yacht Andromeda, which is suspected of being the vessel involved in the sabotage.

Die Welt noted that they were acting on orders from Zaluzhny, who was dismissed from his post in February 2024 and appointed Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK.

Since then, media reports have speculated that Zaluzhny could use his political clout to become Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky’s most dangerous rival in a potential election. Media reports in August claimed that he is already laying the groundwork for a presidential bid and is recruiting campaign staff – a claim Zaluzhny’s team has denied.

Earlier reporting from Der Spiegel in September 2024 also claimed that Zaluzhny greenlit the attack, while a later article by Der Spiegel suggested that the general was so impressed by the operation that he wanted to expand it to target Russia’s TurkStream pipeline in the Black Sea – although the effort was thwarted. Zaluzhny has denied having any role in the sabotage.

According to Die Welt, however, some experts remain skeptical of the alleged Ukrainian role, saying the saboteurs were behaving too conspicuously. “All nonsense,” an official familiar with the investigation said, as cited by the paper. He also accused those who suspect Russia or the US of being behind the attack of believing in conspiracy theories.

In contrast, a senior aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, Nikolay Patrushev, claimed the sabotage could not have been executed without Western commandos, singling out Britain as the likely culprit and arguing that the Ukrainians lack the necessary expertise.

Putin previously suggested that US intelligence agencies under President Joe Biden orchestrated the sabotage.