German federal prosecutors on Wednesday conducted raids as part of an investigation into a suspected attempt to disrupt the country's gas supply. The probe is connected to a 2022 maneuver involving the German unit of the former Russian energy giant Gazprom.
Police searched the premises of a Russian citizen in Berlin, who is the primary suspect, as well as another individual not under investigation and an unidentified company in Frankfurt. No arrests were made, according to a statement from the prosecutors' office.
The suspect, a Russian national whose name was not released, is under investigation for suspected accessory involvement in violating investment rules under Germany's foreign trade law and accessory involvement in attempted anticonstitutional sabotage.
Prosecutors stated that a few weeks after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the parent company announced its withdrawal from the Gazprom Germania unit. The buyer reportedly ordered its liquidation, an action not permitted before the purchase had received approval.
To counter this, Berlin placed the Gazprom Germania unit under the control of a German government agency, thereby thwarting the attempted liquidation. The government deemed the unit to be of "paramount significance" for natural gas trade, transport, and storage within Germany. The company was later nationalized and is now known as Securing Energy for Europe.
Investigators suspect that the sale to a Moscow-based company with no apparent ties to the energy industry, coupled with the attempted liquidation, was intended to disrupt gas supply in Germany, a key supporter of Ukraine. The man under investigation is believed to have supported the implementation of the liquidation decision with this objective in mind.
Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Germany moved rapidly to reduce its reliance on Russian gas. Moscow subsequently cut off its remaining gas supplies to Germany several months later. Shortly thereafter, undersea explosions caused damage to the Nord Stream pipelines, which were designed to transport Russian natural gas to Germany via the Baltic Sea.