A live, unexploded drone, packed with explosives, was discovered on the seafloor, near one of the two strands of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, reported Pipeline Technology Journal back on Nov. 13, 2015. Reported News Insight today, “On October 20, Swedish investigators looking into the incident that destroyed the Nord Stream gas pipelines revealed they had discovered an explosive-packed drone on the seafloor close to the pipelines,” but without dating when the drone was originally found: “According to Pipeline Journal [sic], the drone was discovered close to one of the two strands of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline during a regular survey operation as part of the pipeline’s yearly integrity review.” Its link to Pipeline Technology Journal, shows that the story dates from November 2015. (https://www.pipeline-journal.net/news/explosive-laden-drone-found-near-nord-stream-pipeline)
A similar story was published by RT on November 7, 2015: “‘Underwater Drone with Explosives’ Spotted near Baltic Nord Stream Pipeline” (https://www.rt.com/news/321163-drone-explosives-nord-stream/).
News Insight continues that the drone was discovered supposedly in a routine survey operation, done as part of the annual integrity assessment of the pipeline. Since it was within the Swedish Exclusive Economic Zone, about 120 km from Gotland, Sweden’s military was called in to defuse the drone, which they imply was done this year, since it’s not reported in 2015.
Jesper Stolpe, a spokesman for the Swedish Armed Forces said that the drone, close to one of the strands of Nord Stream 2, was disarmed by cutting the cable used to control the drone, and said that “at this time, we do not believe it to be threatening to merchant vessels or the pipeline.” Of note, he did not identify the drone, saying that, since numerous nations utilize unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) of a similar design; hence, they have not yet confirmed the identity of the country that placed the drone. (https://insightnews.media/drone-with-explosives-discovered-close-to-the-nord-stream-pipeline/)
