Sweden has long said it suspected an unknown state actor, and an official statement from its top prosecutor's office now claims "The conclusion of the investigation is that there is no Swedish jurisdiction and that the investigation should therefore be closed." This is because "nothing has emerged to indicate that Sweden or Swedish citizens were involved in the attack that took place in international waters."

Still, the same statement says they now have a "good picture" of the incident after a "systematic and thorough" investigation and this has ultimately led to the conclusion that "Swedish jurisdiction is missing" - according to Swedish Public Prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist. "It is not Sweden's task to continue this investigation."

"We have had good international cooperation with several countries, above all Denmark and Germany, where we have continuously shared information and situational images," it said, also underscoring that Germany's investigation continues, but necessarily under the "secrecy that prevails for international judicial cooperation."

Also disappointing is the following: "I will also not be able to comment anything further on the conclusions of the Swedish investigation or comment on any suspected persons in the Swedish investigation," Ljungqvist said.

Presumably, Russia fully cooperated as well, given the statement is absent some kind of censure on this front, and long gone are the early days after the blast of blaming Russia for the destruction of its own vital pipeline, as was common in Western media in the weeks that followed Sept. 26, 2022. However, the Kremlin has repeatedly complained that it has been denied access or any insight into the ongoing Western investigations.

At the same time, Russia has at various times laid blame on the US, Britain and Ukraine for the covert operation which permanently severed this key method of access supplying energy to the lucrative European market.