A Ukrainian group accused of orchestrating the September 2022 Nord Stream pipeline explosion has longstanding ties to the CIA, with some members, including alleged mastermind Roman Chervinsky, receiving years of training from US agents, Der Spiegel reported on Wednesday.

The gang had been "planning and carrying out clandestine operations for the Ukrainian security apparatus for years,"the German magazine reports, adding that they set their sights on the gas pipelines as early as in 2019, some three years before Moscow launched its military operation against Kiev.

The pipelines delivered up to 60 billion cubic meters of Russian gas annually, meeting around 16% of the EU's natural gas needs in 2018 and half of Germany's annual demand by 2021. They had long been "a thorn in Washington's side," Der Spiegel writes.

Before the explosions, senior US officials, including President Joe Biden, repeatedly criticized the Nord Stream project and urged Berlin to abandon its successor, Nord Stream 2. The second pipeline never became operational, as Germany halted its certification process shortly before Russia launched its military operation against Ukraine in February 2022.

According to Der Spiegel, Chervinsky was among a select group of Ukrainian security officials handpicked by US intelligence and trained over several years. Washington aimed to build relationships with "trustworthy" operatives while keeping its efforts hidden from Moscow. A key objective, the magazine noted, was creating "capable sabotage units."

The magazine, citing a Ukrainian source, reported that the explosives used in the Nord Stream operation were not manufactured in Ukraine. However, the source declined to disclose their origin.

Der Spiegel also claims to have identified nearly all the individuals involved in the sabotage but has chosen not to publish their names, citing concerns that they could become targets for Russian or Ukrainian security services.

Meanwhile, skepticism about the official narrative persists. Earlier this month, renowned German diving expert Dr. Sven Thomas questioned the claim that a small Ukrainian team carried out the attack. He argued that explosions of such magnitude required military-grade bottom mines with a yield equivalent to 1,260 kilograms of TNT. Planting such devices, he said, would have necessitated a large vessel, not the yacht reportedly used.

Moscow has dismissed reports linking a small Ukrainian team to the sabotage as implausible. Last month, Danish media revealed that US Navy warships were operating near the Nord Stream pipelines shortly before the blasts.
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