Germany warns about hasty judgments after Nord Stream report

​Germany’s defense minister warned Wednesday against “jumping to conclusions” about last year’s attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines following a report that a pro-Ukraine group carried out the operation — as Berlin prosecutors revealed new details about their probe of the potential sabotage.

“We have to make a clear distinction whether it was a Ukrainian group, happened on Ukrainian orders, or was a pro-Ukrainian group acting without knowledge of the government,” Boris Pistorius told reporters in Stockholm at a meeting of European Union defense chiefs.

“But I am warning against jumping to conclusions,” he added, noting that some experts have raised the possibility that the attack on the ​Baltic Sea ​pipelines could have been ​a “false-flag operation ​to blame Ukraine.”

E​uropean Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell also counseled patience. ​

“As long as investigations into Nord Stream blasts are ongoing, we cannot draw conclusions​,” he said.​

The New York Times, citing US officials, reported Tuesday that intelligence indicates that supporters of the Kyiv government attacked the pipelines, which deliver natural gas from Russia to Western Europe.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, also at the gathering in Stockholm, rejected suggestions that there was any official connection to the operation.

“It’s like a compliment for our special forces, but this is not our activity,” he said.​

Ukraine has been battling Russian invasion forces for more than a year, and President Volodymyr Zelensky has been lobbying Western leaders to continue to provide aid and military assistance as Moscow prepares to ramp up its offensives in the spring. 

Meanwhile, ​G​erman​y’s federal prosecutor confirmed Wednesday that investigators searched a boat this past January that they believe may have been used to ferry explosives to the pipelines. 

Prosecutors ​said a German company rented the vessel but cautioned that no evidence connected the company to the attack.

“The identity of the perpetrators and their motives are the subject of ongoing investigations. Reliable statements on this, especially on the question of state control, cannot be made at this time,” the prosecutors said.

German daily newspaper Die Zeit and public broadcasters ARD and SWR reported Tuesday that five men and a woman used a yacht hired by a Ukrainian-owned company based in Poland to carry out the attack.

The outlets reported that the people used forged passports to rent the boat in the German port of Rostock, and the group included a captain, two divers, two diving assistants and a doctor.

The White House declined to comment on the Times report, citing ongoing investigations by Germany, Sweden and Denmark.

Russia​, which has blamed the US and the United Kingdom for destroying the pipelines,​ dismissed the reports as an attempt to divert attention away from finding the real culprits.

“The masterminds of the terror attack clearly want to distract attention,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday, questioning how the US and its allies could make any assumptions about responsibility without a full investigation.

“The very least that the Nord Stream shareholder countries and the United Nations must demand is an urgent, transparent investigation with the participation of everyone who can shed light,” Peskov said.

With Post wires