Interview with Erik Andersson: What the Mainstream Media Isn’t Telling You About Nord Stream

Originally published on InsideOver

Dear Erik Andersson, in recent days it has emerged that investigations conducted by German authorities have identified a key suspect, identified as Volodymyr Zhuravlov, a 44-year-old Ukrainian scuba diving instructor. He, along with two other accomplices, is accused of having placed explosives along the Nord Stream. Despite an arrest warrant being issued against him - a Ukrainian citizen who was living in Poland - the suspect appears to have fled to Ukraine, making his capture difficult. What do you think about this? A curious story…

I think the German investigators really believe that the sail boat crew blew up Nord Stream, and that they think they have identified some of the crew members. The German focus on the Andromeda story has been known for a long time, and it has also been known that Poland hasn’t cooperated with the investigation.

But still, I was shocked to read yesterday in WSJ, that Olaf Scholz headed a delegation to Warsaw on July 2, meeting Donald Tusk and his aides to make sure the warrant was acted upon, but the Poles flat out refused. It was even said that whoever blew up Nord Stream should receive a medal, not be arrested. Zhuravlov is said to have fled to Ukraine on July 6, 4 days after the Scholz/Tusk meeting, apparently tipped off by a supportive Polish government. At this point, when the Ukraine sailboat story has stirred up political conflict between nations, and demands have been raised in Germany to freeze aid to Ukraine, and even ask for damages, we have to deal with the story as a kind of truth. I’m saying ”kind of”, because I haven’t seen the evidence and I can’t vouch for it. There is still a chance that we’re being manipulated and Ukraine is unfairly made a pasty (since they’re the only ones who can get away with it as an act in their war against Russia). But I’m setting those doubts aside mostly because I think it’s more constructive to give the German investigators ”the benefit of the doubt”, and support actions that can lead to more discovery.

The Wall Street Journal tells a different story. The plan is said to have been reviewed by Zelensky, who decided to stop the operation. At that point, the sabotage was reportedly carried out by the former head of the armed forces, Valery Zaluzhny, who is now an ambassador. Do you find this story credible, or is it a way to "clear" the West, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom, of any involvement?

I think this WSJ article, as well as all previous similar story-telling pieces from major American newspapers on the subject, has a clear mission to whitewash the USA and other western nations. So yes, I think you are right. An exception though is that the latest WSJ article says that Ukraine initially reviewed a previous plan to blow up Nord Steam drawn up together with “western experts”, but that plan was abandoned for its complexity. By saying that, WSJ all but admits that the project originated from “the west”. There is also a passage in the article that insinuates that Zelenskiy argued with Zaluzhny in September 2022 as the bombs, were being planted in the Baltic. This was new. In the previous version of the narrative, Zelenskiy was not in the loop. But now when he’s said to have been trying to stop it to please America, but is told by Zaluzhny it can’t be stopped, then it becomes even more unbelievable that the Americans weren’t in the loop. I’m also taking the arrogance of Poland (when telling Germany to shut and apologize), as evidence of American support. They just wouldn’t be able to talk like that without American support.

WSJ:

“Zelensky took Zaluzhniy to task, but the general shrugged off his criticism, according to

three people familiar with the exchange. Zaluzhniy told Zelensky that the sabotage team,

once dispatched, went incommunicado and couldn’t be called off because any contact with

them could compromise the operation.

“He was told it’s like a torpedo—once you fire it at the enemy, you can’t pull it back again, it

just keeps going until it goes ‘boom,

’ ” a senior officer familiar with the conversation said.”