Did the Ukrainians bomb the Nord Stream pipeline?

There’s an uncomfortable fact about covert operations in the information-saturated modern world. Like personal WhatsApp messages, they always leak – the only questions are how long it takes, who leaks, and what the consequences will be.

With reports coming from both Washington and Berlin that Ukrainians may have been behind the spectacular bombings of the Nord Stream gas pipeline back in September, it looks as if the current lag is just months.

At the time, the mysterious attacks were variously blamed on Moscow, Kyiv, Washington, London and who knows who else. The quandary was that it was hard to see who would benefit. The pipelines were inactive, and there seemed little prospect of them ever being used, as Europe in general and Germany in particular weaned itself off Russian gas. The Americans had made intemperate statements that ‘one way or another’ the new Nord Stream 2 pipelines would not open if Russia invaded Ukraine.