Russian Navy ships were repeatedly in the vicinity of the Nord Stream pipelines off the coasts of Denmark and Sweden, days before a mysterious explosion, according to a new report.
The findings, reported by a consortium of Nordic news organization on May 3, add further questions to the still-unexplained blasts, which are being investigated in at least three Baltic Sea countries and have prompted a host of sometimes conflicting theories.
The September 26, 2022, explosions, which were reported a day later by Swedish scientists, took place at a site on the Baltic seabed more than 100 meters beneath the surface. The Russian-built pipelines, which were intended to bring Russian natural gas directly to Germany, were not in use at the time, but residual gas bubbled up to the surface.
Suspicions initially fell on Russia. U.S. officials called the blasts sabotage and European authorities later said that the sophistication of the incident pointed to a state actor with access to complex diving equipment and detonators.
Moscow accused Britain and Western countries of involvement.
In recent months, German investigators searched a cruising yacht chartered from a German port that may have been near the site of the blasts. The search was based on suspicions that "the vessel in question may have been used to transport explosive devices."
German media said some of the people who chartered the yacht may have shown Ukrainian passports for identification. German media also reported that an unnamed Western intelligence agency communicated to European security agencies that a Ukrainian commando group was responsible.
The new report, released on May 3 jointly by Finland's Yle, Norway's NRK, Denmark's DR, and Sweden's SVT, said several Russian Navy ships, some equipped with diving or submarine equipment, were seen in the vicinity of the explosions five days prior.
The ships included a Russian naval research vessel called the Sibiryakov, as well as a tugboat, and a third Russian naval ship. The tugboat, called SB-123, reportedly arrived on September 21, five days before the explosion, and remained there for the entire evening and night before sailing back toward Russia.
That vessel had been previously identified by the German news site T-Online as one of six vessels suspected of being involved in the explosions.
The Nordic broadcasters' report said the ships had turned off their transmitters -- GPS-like devices that many ships around the world use to broadcast their locations.
However, the organizations said they tracked the ships' movements using intercepted radio communications, and satellite imagery.
Meanwhile, the Danish newspaper Information last week reported that the Danish military had taken 26 photographs of another specialized Russian naval vessel sailing near the blast site four days prior.
That ship was identified as the submarine rescue ship SS-750, which is capable of carrying a mini-submarine.