It’s been one year since underwater explosions severely damaged the Nord Stream pipelines built to carry natural gas from Russia to Europe, inflaming geopolitical tensions that were already heightened by the invasion of Ukraine.
The attack on Sept. 26, 2022, which ruptured the conduit between Russia and Germany, was quickly denounced by Western officials as a brazen and dangerous act of sabotage. The implications were significant: An attack on the critical infrastructure of a member state threatened to draw the European Union and NATO into the war and came at a time when Europe was still working to wean itself from its dependence on Russian energy.
Shortly after the attack, one expert likened the situation to an Agatha Christie mystery, in which all parties involved — namely Russia and Ukraine — appeared to have a motive or could have benefited from the outcome.
In the months since, however, official investigations in three countries have yielded few answers, and the question of who was behind the blasts endures.
Here is what we know about the investigations, one year later.