WSJ’s Nord Stream tall tale targets Zelensky, Zaluzhny

Germany and the US have put out numerous stories about the September 2022 destruction of the Nord Stream pipeline claiming that it was destroyed by the Ukrainians.

The latest story, headlined in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), would have us believe that Ukrainian President Vladymyr Zelensky initially approved the plot to blow up the pipeline and that it was carried out by former Ukrainian armed forces chief Valerii Zaluzhny.

The still unexplained explosion rendered three of Nord Stream’s four lines, which deliver gas from Russia to Europe, inoperable. Germany, Sweden, and Denmark initiated three separate investigations into the sabotage, but the latter two closed without publicly assigning responsibility for the damage in February 2024.

According to the WSJ story, after the planning was done by a motley crew of Ukrainian army officers and civilians, mostly soaked in alcohol, Zelensky tried to call off the attack when the US warned him against it. Zaluzhny, however, carried on, saying he had no way to call back the operation.

The story also links to German prosecutors attempting to indict one crew member, a Ukrainian diving instructor, without revealing his last name. This crew member allegedly lived in Poland with his family but has disappeared. The Germans are accusing the Poles ofobstruction in the case.

However, almost the entire WSJ story strains credulity. For example, there is a claim that German investigators checked the German-registered yacht, called the Andromeda, and they uncovered DNA, fingerprints and traces of explosives.

Who is associated with the DNA and fingerprints is not explained, nor is the type of explosive “traces” claimed to have been found. WSJ only says that this was discovered as part of a