BLUF:[War Zone] Western intelligence agencies are increasingly of the view that the Russian government, or actors acting on its behalf, was responsible for the pipeline leaks. The Times newspaper in the United Kingdom, citing an unnamed U.K. "defense source," reported today that a "likely scenario" for the attacks involved Russian uncrewed underwater vehicles, deployed from a mothership vessel of some kind on the surface, possibly something as innocuous as a fishing boat. Those undersea drones would then have laid explosive devices along the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines.
According to The Times story, the explosives could have been planted weeks or even months ago as part of a "premeditated and planned" operation. This detail follows a separate report from the German magazine Der Spiegel yesterday that said the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has passed along warnings to authorities in Berlin about the possibility of future attacks on Nord Steam 1 and 2 this past summer.
Experts and observers have also put forward the possibility of combat divers planting explosives. The leaks occurred in areas where the pipelines lie at sufficiently shallow depths for divers to operate.