The High Court of Justice in London has rejected a claim by Nord Stream AG, the operator of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, to recover €579 million from insurers for damage caused by explosions in the Baltic Sea. Judge Claire Moulder issued the ruling, the Financial Times reported.
The lawsuit was filed against Lloyd's Insurance Company and Arch Insurance, representing groups of insurers. Nord Stream sought compensation for damage to two of its pipeline strings. Had the claim succeeded, the payout would have been among the largest ever for infrastructure damage, according to the FT.
The judge found that the damage was directly or indirectly a consequence of Russia's war against Ukraine and therefore fell under an exclusion clause in the insurance policies. The court concluded that regardless of whether the sabotage was carried out by Russia, Ukraine, or the United States, the war was a significant cause of the perpetrators' actions, according to the ruling cited by The Insider.
The ruling specified that if Ukraine or actors linked to it carried out the explosions, their possible goal could have been to reduce Russia's gas export revenues during the war. If Russia was behind the sabotage, its motive could have been to punish Germany and the EU for changing their policies after the invasion, the court reasoned. In the case of U.S. involvement, the court also saw a hypothetical link between the attack and Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The court did not determine which party was responsible for destroying the pipelines and did not hold Russia, Ukraine, or the United States responsible for the explosions. Identifying the perpetrator was not necessary to resolve the insurance dispute.
During the six-week hearing, expert witnesses for both sides agreed that directed charges based on hexogen were used to damage the pipes. The court also rejected Nord Stream's theory that a dent on one pipeline could have been caused by a falling anchor, calling that version "extremely unlikely."
In early July, the German Federal Prosecutor's Office brought the first charges in the pipeline sabotage case against a 50-year-old Ukrainian citizen, Sergei Kuznetsov. He is accused of attacking civilian energy infrastructure, which authorities consider a war crime. Prosecutors allege that six other Ukrainian citizens were involved in the sabotage. Ukraine officially denies any involvement in the explosions.