Thread by @Hugo_L_P

1/16 - Brief overview of our new NS story:
Intercepted radio communication reveals how 3 Russian Navy vessels were operating near later Nord Stream explosion sites in June and September last year. They were operating with AIS turned off. Our article here dr.dk/nyheder/indlan…

2/16 The vessels are an unidentified RU Navy vessel, the Proj 865 Hydrographic ship Sibiryakov and the Proj 02980 sea tug SB-123. Experts: "The two identified vessels have the capacity to conduct underwater operations." More in podcast Cold Front (Eng): podcasts.apple.com/podcast/cold-f…

3/16 The Russian Navy vessels' radio communication was intercepted by a former British Navy intelligence officer that we call James and shared with @DRNyheder @granskning @NRKno @ylenews. The data reveal positions, speeds, and directions.

4/16 The first unidentified RU Navy vessel sailed to the area on June 7 and crossed the pipelines in the vicinity of the later northern Nord Stream explosion sites. Sailed between 6-10 knots according to the three intercepted messages in the area.

5/16 The second vessel, the Russian Navy ship Sibiryakov, arrived at the same position on June 14, staying in the area northeast of Bornholm for almost 24 hours. No intercepted radio communication for 15 hours during the night. Three times it conducted slow-speed activity.

6/16 Interesting: Four days before (on June 10) the Sibiryakovs starts to communicate with an unidentified Russian Navy vessel. Normally the ship communicates with known Russian Navy ports. Experts: "This is suspicious and could indicate the beginning of a covert operation."

7/16 The third vessel, SB-123, has previously been mentioned by @tonline and @OAlexanderDK. German sources told that 6 RU Navy ships were in the area on September 22nd. SB-123 is one of these. They showed that SB-123 turned off AIS halfway there. Now we can reveal new data:

8/16 Intercepted radio messages from SB-123 locate the vessel in the area between the later northern and southern explosion sites. It arrived on the evening of September 21st and stayed there until around noon the next day. SB-123 had 12h before DK patrol vessel Nymfen showed up.

9/16 @informeren revealed last week that the Danish patrol vessel Nymfen took 26 pictures of another of the 6 ships that @tonline mentions. The Russian Navy SS-750 that have extensive underwater capabilities:

10/16 Together with @KSAT_Kongsberg we found 14 satellite images that support the route that the intercepted radio communication shows for the unidentified vessel and the Sibiryakov. And we found one really interesting image according to experts:

11/16 A SAR image taken on June 15 suggests that Sibiryakov was not the only ship near the later northern explosion sites at that time. Two ships without AIS and without a wake are located a few hundred meters and a few KM from the nearest of the later leakage sites.

12/16 @CovertShores says in our podcast Cold Front: "These are interesting pieces of information that paint a convincing picture of hidden Russian activity near the gas pipelines in the time leading up to the attacks."

13/16 @johannesriber agrees in the article: "It's important to note that these are not civilian vessels leased by the company behind Nord Stream. These are state-owned ships from the Russian Federation, out to do something that is not related to maintenance work."

14/16 Jens Wenzel Kristoffersen agrees: "There is a combination of ships out there, which, along with their positions, indicate that something has happened on the seabed, which could have been connected to the explosions. Although we cannot say for certain that this is the case."

15/16 While the two initial ships were operating in the area of the later northern explosion sites in June, NATO held BALTOPS 22. We have examined openly available ship and flight data and have not found any NATO units in the visible area at that time.

16/16 All details in the article, in the podcast Cold Front and in the TV documentary "Skyggekrigen". And very important to note that this is not a smoking gun. This is data on how RU Navy vessels operated in the area prior to the Nord Stream explosions. Overview of data here:

Other good articles at our collaborators the Nordic broadcasters.
Also now also good articles in @derspiegel @ZDFfrontal @paper_trail_m @BBCWorld and from the likes of @f_obermaier @romanlehberger @MarcelRosenbach @gordoncorera
bbc.com/news/world-eur…

Ping @OAlexanderDK @JKaarsbo @The_Lookout_N @COUPSURE @johannesriber @CovertShores @bellingcat

Note: Together with this great team of Nordic investigative reporters: @nielsfas @havardgulldahl @LisbethQuass @mariageorgieva Inghild Eriksen and Ali Fegan.

Podcast was co-directed and co-written with @MerleBaere

More good articles here from @havardgulldahl @tormodstrand @DavidGebhard @julia__klaus @KlauserFelix
NRK nrk.no/norge/skyggekr…

ZDF zdf.de/nachrichten/po…

and here: spiegel.de/politik/nord-s…