In a similar time frame – between midnight and 1 a.m. – two other ships suspected to be involved in the operation left the port of Kaliningrad, according to satellite imagery: the rescue tugs “SB-123” and “Alexander Frolov”. Each of them have cargo cranes on deck that would be capable of lowering hundreds of kilograms of heavy explosive devices or mines into the water.
Although they initially switched off the AIS, they sent position data once far to the west in the afternoon, indicating a course toward Bornholm and a speed of nine knots. By then, the ships were only five hours away from the sites of the later attack.
A little later, a U.S. military helicopter stationed in Gdansk, Poland, crossed their course. Was it warning the Danes of ships approaching without position signals?
In any case, by 7:50 p.m., the two tugs could have reached the scene. It is unclear whether their short length of 45 meters protected them from being detected in SpaceKnow’s analysis of satellite imagery. The company did not respond to a request for comment.
However, according to information gathered by t-online, three other ships have been assigned to the association.
- The spy ship “Syzran”: Satellite images suggest that this ship also left the port in Kaliningrad on September 21, but clouds do not allow a definite conclusion.
- The corvette “Soobrazitelny”: According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, it was involved in anti-submarine exercises in the Baltic Sea from September 18 at the latest. On September 22 – the very day Danish and Swedish ships began pursuing it – the Ministry published a report late in the evening that the “Soobrazitelny” had escorted a convoy of ships for training purposes.
- The frigate “Yaroslav Mudry”: According to official announcements, it joined the escort maneuver with the “Soobrazitelny” and its sister corvette, the “Stoikiy”. Satellite images taken on September 22 show a ship of that size lying off the coast of Poland, together with one of the corvettes. Both had the AIS turned off.
Their position would have allowed the frigate and corvette to escort the ships returning from the scene all the way to Kaliningrad, or at least shield them from the NATO maneuver on Poland’s coast. However, there is reason to believe that the frigate also sailed the direct area of the crime scenes beforehand.
Tracks of “Yaroslav Mudry”
At this place satellite image analysis of SpaceKnow had discovered not only a dark ship of 95 meters length, which could have been “SS-750” – but also a second one with 130 meters length. This is exactly the length of the “Yaroslav Mudry”the only ship in the Russian Baltic fleet. And there is another reference to the frigate at the scene.
About six months earlier, on March 14, 2022, it had apparently already triggered a patrol by Danish naval vessels there. Within five years for the only time before September 22. Also at that time it had switched off the AIS, but again can be identified on satellite images. What was the mission of the “Yaroslav Mudry” there? Was it possibly collecting data on how quickly NATO forces would react in an emergency?
In official statements, the activities of the Russian navy in the days before the attacks have so far played no role. Neither the German, Danish or Swedish investigators, nor NATO or the armed forces of the Baltic Sea states wanted to comment on them when asked by t-online. Thus, the criminal case remains unsolved for the time being, but a chain of evidence has been added. It does not point to the USA or Ukraine. Some tracks now are leading to Moscow.
