CIA learned in June 2022, via an intelligence agency of a European country, that military divers were soldering. The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which were supposed to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany, were hit by underwater explosions on September 26.
Several countries, including Russia, Ukraine and the United States, had been accused of bearing responsibility, but all had denied it. The Washington Post's revelations are consistent with reports by German investigators that a team of six people with fake passports borrowed a sailboat from the port of Rostock, Germany, to conduct the operation.