So, this came up via ARD (public TV, Channel 1) nightly news last night, and I'll try to make this simple.
Four German news sources (chiefly ARD, but includes SWR, the program 'Kontraste' and the newspaper ZEIT) are given information that a "western secret service" (meaning either Canada or US)....sent a 'tip' to European partners back before the Nord Stream explosion....that a Ukrainian commando unit was going to conduct this operation.
The term 'pro-Ukrainian' then gets inserted into the story.
The team? It's a captain, two divers, two diving assistants and a doctor. That's it......no explosives expert....which is rather odd. What's the purpose of the assistants? I might go and assume to make sure the tanks are full, but this is left to your imagination as well. The divers being like SEAL folks and trained on explosives? Maybe.
The boat used? Well....a yacht is rented....out of Poland. Whose yacht? All that is said is that it was owned by a two-man Ukrainian situation.
The equipment and bombs? The story here goes....it was delivered to the port area of Rostock, Germany (yeah, someone drove the equipment/bombs across the country).
Proof? The story goes that some investigators came to the boat....tested a table on it for explosives and found residue. The investigators? ARD says they were federal police.
Clean and tidy? Some people have looked over what was presented and some limited points. The residue found on the table? Well....that could have been planted there.
The 7 people involved? No one seems sure about the nationalities. They are called Ukrainian but there's virtually zero proof on this angle.
Another problem....the one key news group talking about this? New York Times....claiming 'leaked' material/stories from unnamed sources gave them the 'tips'.
This being a pro-Ukrainian 'good' strategy? After you stand there for a while looking at this.....it's hard to imagine the gov't of the Ukraine seeing this as a positive strategy. Why would you want to eliminate two Nord Stream pipelines that connect to one of your key supporters in the war?
The group of seven? They seem to have just disappeared.
A BS story? The pipes lay around 300 to 350 ft under the surface of the water. The general push-to-the-limit depth that a diver can go? Around 350 ft. So it is conceivable.
Reading like a James Bond movie? I came to that conclusion after viewing the story on ARD.
Why is it a pro-Ukrainian group? This detail falls flat when looking at the story. There is nothing much here....other than saying there were 7 people on a rented yacht that belongs to two Ukrainian rich guys. Someone drove a truck around Germany with explosives....to reach Rostock.
The only physical evidence.....explosives residue from the boat table. Nothing else.
How the seven paid for renting the yacht? Never explained. Cash? It's a funny detail but it's the one element left out of the story.
On my skeptical index....one to ten....this is around a '9' presently.
Could the seven have been fake Ukrainians.....simply Russians? Well....you could make a case for this....but this 'western service' says pro-Ukrainians.
Could the 7 folks have been hired by someone....to fake this effort....to cover for the Americans? You could probably make this suggestion, but have little to no proof.
So I'll end this with the comment....this was the lead-off item for ARD news, and they spent two minutes detailing this. Germans who did watch this....will probably have a negative view of the Ukrainians (my humble belief). If this was a faked-up story....it's leading you to some pretty negative view.
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