US newspaper says Ukrainian colonel coordinated Nord Stream pipeline explosion

The Washington Post reported that Colonel Chervinsky of the Ukrainian special forces coordinated the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline.

Colonel Roman Chervinsky, 48, managed logistics and assisted a group of six people who used fake documents to hire ships and use diving equipment to place explosives on the Nord Stream pipeline, the US Washington Post reported on November 11, citing Ukrainian officials and European sources.

The newspaper said that Chervinsky received orders from higher-ups, who then reported to Chief of the General Staff of the Ukrainian army Valery Zaluzhny.

"Chervinsky's role is the most direct evidence to date that the Ukrainian security and military leadership was involved in the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline in September 2022," according to the newspaper.

Chervinsky denied the information. "All speculations about my involvement in the Nord Stream sabotage are being spread by Russia without any basis," he said in a statement to the Washington Post and the German news site Der Spiegel, both of which are working together to investigate Chervinsky's role.

The White House, the US State Department, and the Ukrainian government have not commented on the information.

Since Russia launched its campaign in Ukraine in February 2022, Chervinsky has served in a special forces unit focused on counter-Russian operations in the Moscow-controlled region, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Chervinsky is being held in a Kiev prison on charges of abuse of power in a scheme to lure a Russian pilot to defect to Ukraine in July 2022. Ukrainian authorities accuse Chervinsky, who was arrested in April, of acting arbitrarily and revealing the coordinates of a Ukrainian airport, leading to the attack.

Roman Chervinsky during a trial at the Schevchenko district court in Kiev on October 10. Photo: Washington Post — Roman Chervinsky during a trial at the Schevchenko district court in Kiev on October 10. Photo: *Washington Post*

The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines from Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea were damaged in explosions in September 2022. The pipelines were not operating at the time. Denmark, Sweden and Germany, the three countries closest to the site, launched an investigation and concluded that the incident was an act of sabotage but have not yet identified the perpetrators.

The Washington Post in June cited leaked documents saying that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) through a European intelligence agency in June 2022 learned that a six-member Ukrainian task force planned to sabotage Nord Stream.

Accordingly, the Ukrainian group planned to attack the pipeline after NATO's major BALTOPS naval exercise on June 5-17, 2022. This operation was reported directly to General Zaluzhnyi. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is said to be unaware of the plan.

The CIA later informed European allies of the information. The intelligence document also said that Ukraine's plan had been "put on hold" but did not give a reason. Three unnamed US officials confirmed the Washington Post report to CNN. It is unclear whether the plan outlined in the US intelligence document is related to the Nord Stream sabotage in September 2022.

President Zelensky later said Ukraine knew nothing about the plan to sabotage Nord Stream reported by the US media, asserting that Kiev would never do such a thing.