Is underwater sabotage possible on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline?
Much has already been written that after the launch of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, the countries of Eastern Europe, namely Ukraine and Poland, will lose multibillion-dollar profits for the transit of gas through their territory from Russia to Europe.
Now, however, information has appeared that Germany is looking for ways to compensate for financial losses for Ukraine through a transit stop, but these will be only pitiful crumbs after the fabulous profits for transit.
It is also worth noting that after Angela Merkel prevented the construction of the SP-2 from stopping, relations between Poland and Germany are now very tense.
However, do not forget that the economy and war are constantly connected.
Moreover, the launch of the SP-2 is still opposed by the Americans, whose satellites in Europe are Poland and Ukraine.
Americans, on the other hand, are good at raking in heat with someone else's hands. And one of such methods, from my point of view, will be sabotage on the SP-2 gas pipeline, which will stop the pumping of gas and bring huge losses to Gazprom. And this sabotage can quite realistically be carried out by the aforementioned American satellites.
At this time, Poland and Ukraine have a combat-ready, well-trained naval special forces, and in addition, Poland also has hidden means for the delivery of combat swimmers.
In Ukraine, as part of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, there is the 73rd Naval Special Operations Center, whose personnel are well trained and distinguished themselves in the war in the Donbass. One of the tasks of this center is to carry out underwater sabotage.
Poland also has its own naval special forces - this is a naval unit of special actions "Formosa" as part of the Special Forces of the Polish Armed Forces, whose personnel are trained according to NATO standards and are equipped with high-tech equipment.
Do not forget that the Polish Navy has a submarine division, which includes from three to five submarine units, which makes it possible to secretly deliver combat swimmers and explosive devices to places where the gas pipeline is laid at a shallow (up to 50 meters) depth, then there is a place where combat swimmers can work.
Where and who
And there are few such places: these are the coastal regions of Germany and Finland, the Danish island of Bornholm and the Swedish island of Gotland.
It is worth mentioning that Poland already tried in April 2021 to obstruct the construction of the gas pipeline, and the warships of the Polish Navy were actively interfering with their maneuvers of the pipe-laying vessel.
If we assess the possibility of someone whom the Americans can use to sabotage the SP-2, then, given the events of the past seven years, Ukrainians have more motivation to carry out such an anti-Russian sabotage, especially since in 2014 the Ukrainian media were full of the news about the Russian trail of explosions on Ukrainian gas pipelines.
At the same time, it will be technically easier for the Poles to do this, based on the fact that they have submarines and are trained to use them for covert delivery of combat swimmers, the area of the operation is close to Poland, and the natural and geographical features of the Baltic Sea are well known to the Poles.
It will not be difficult to plan, prepare and carry out such an operation, especially with the assistance of the United States, which can provide the latest intelligence information and modern means of detonation (powerful small-sized charges on remote control or with a timer).
And what is characteristic is that Russia will never, under any circumstances, prove the involvement of either the United States, Poland or Ukraine in this sabotage, except for the case when the underwater saboteurs are caught by the hand.
Counteraction
What can the Russian leadership do to counter the underwater explosion of the SP-2, which will bring both financial and reputational losses?
At this time, it is necessary to identify all possible areas for such sabotage, saturate these areas with various underwater tracking sensors, constantly monitor these areas with aerial and space reconnaissance means, and also ask for permission from Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Finland to constantly patrol these areas in their territorial waters by the ships of the Border Service of the FSB of Russia.
If this is not undertaken in the near future, then the possibility of an underwater explosion at SP-2 will only increase every day.
Information