The tanker Minerva Julie stood at the site of the explosions for seven days.
The Greek-flagged tanker cruised over the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines from September 6 to 12, shortly before the September 26 explosions occurred there. Business Insider writes about it.
Danish analyst Oliver Alexander believes that the crew of the tanker Minerva Julie could have been involved in the explosions. It was he who drew attention to the strange movements of the tanker shortly before the explosion, analyzing data from the Maritime Automatic Identification System (AIS) from ships that passed near the location of three of the four pipelines shortly before the damage.
The tanker Minerva Julie, which was suspiciously long at the Nord Streams
Фото: Jan Hoog/Marine Traffic
He spotted a 600-foot Greek-flagged tanker heading east from Rotterdam when it came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the Baltic Sea on September 6.
According to AIS, from September 6 to 13, Minerva Julie drifted close to the site of the explosions. The tanker alternately stopped over the Nord Streams, then crossed an area of approximately 200 square miles over two gas pipelines for seven days, from 6 to 12 September. From there, the tanker sailed to Tallinn, Estonia before anchoring in St. Petersburg, Russia on 18 September. Then, on September 26, there was an explosion on gas pipelines.
Oliver Alexander showed where the tanker was before the explosions
Photo: Screenshot
The proximity of Minerva Julie to the scene of the attack was first reported by the Finnish media Verkkouutiset. This coincidence sparked a wave of online speculation among groups of amateur sleuths and maritime experts. At the same time, it is hard to imagine that the official investigators tasked with establishing the truth about the sabotage at Nord Stream did not want to learn more about the tanker, which spent a whole week near the place where what the media called a “major geopolitical crime” soon took place. .
The data found by Oliver does not indicate that the vessel was in any way involved in the destruction of the pipelines. This, however, raises the question of what the crew could have witnessed.
A spokesman for Minerva Marine confirmed the location of the tanker at the site of future explosions, but noted that the ship had stopped “pending instructions on the next voyage” in accordance with “standard shipping practice.” The statement does not say whether they were contacted by investigators, but noted that the company “has always been and remains at the disposal of all competent state authorities in relation to any investigation, acting always legally and transparently.”
Investigators say the Nord Stream crash was an act of sabotage, caused, they estimate, by hundreds of pounds of military explosives attached to a pipeline at a depth of about 80 meters. The construction of the underwater pipelines was financed by a consortium of companies from Russia, Germany, France and the Netherlands. Pipelines bypassing Ukraine delivered Russian natural gas directly to Germany.
And now the investigation is focused on a certain rented yacht. A 50-foot sailboat equipped with a 75 horsepower engine would stop at the site of future explosions. The yacht has already been found, searched and found on board traces of explosives. However, who was on board and who rented it is not reported.
Recall that on September 26, 2022, as a result of explosions on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines near the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, a leak began at four sections of gas pipelines in the exclusive economic zones of Denmark and Sweden.
On March 7, in a number of foreign media, in particular, in German and in the American The New York Times, there were reports that “pro-Ukrainian groups” and even a certain Ukrainian businessman were allegedly involved in the explosion.
President Volodymyr Zelensky, in turn, denies any involvement of Ukraine in the explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines. He suggests that journalists write such materials in the interests of business groups that do not want to lose money due to sanctions against the Russian Federation.
