Uploaded March 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
In September 2022, an explosion occurred at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Someone blew up the pipelines of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which supplied Europe with Russian gas. The news went around the world, but there was desperately little information—there was only talk of a rented yacht and an unknown crew. An international team of journalists embarked on a search. One of them was Polish reporter Wojciech Cieśla.
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00:00 Becoming a journalist at the “wrong” time
03:36 First investigation: the “Noisy Club” and its powerful guests
06:43 How Wojciech begged editors to pursue corruption investigations
09:15 Quitting daily news because of football players
11:20 Investigating the Nord Stream explosions
23:40 Recreating how explosives were planted on Nord Stream
25:55 Why Poland was not collaborating in the investigation
27:00 The importance of human sources
28:40 How flaws in the Nord Stream operation helped journalists identify those involved
33:30 The biggest mistake of Wojciech’s life
Wojciech Cieśla, in cooperation with journalists from Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, mapped the route of the yacht Andromeda, uncovered fake companies and straw men—and gradually pieced together a mosaic that led all the way to a group from Ukraine. Key, however, was also the inaction of the Polish authorities—as well as the question of whom they were trying to protect.
In the interview with Pavla Holcová, Wojciech Cieśla speaks not only about the details of working on one of the biggest European cases of recent years but also about a professional mistake that destroyed his reputation, and also about how hard it was to rebuild it. An episode about the power of journalistic cooperation, the courage to ask uncomfortable questions—and about a sea where some ships prefer not to turn on navigation.
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#attack #podcast #behindthescenes
In September 2022, an explosion occurred at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Someone blew up the pipelines of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which supplied Europe with Russian gas. The news went around the world, but there was desperately little information—there was only talk of a rented yacht and an unknown crew. An international team of journalists embarked on a search. One of them was Polish reporter Wojciech Cieśla.
Subscribe to OCCRP on YouTube ► https://shorturl.at/BSzsh
00:00 Becoming a journalist at the “wrong” time
03:36 First investigation: the “Noisy Club” and its powerful guests
06:43 How Wojciech begged editors to pursue corruption investigations
09:15 Quitting daily news because of football players
11:20 Investigating the Nord Stream explosions
23:40 Recreating how explosives were planted on Nord Stream
25:55 Why Poland was not collaborating in the investigation
27:00 The importance of human sources
28:40 How flaws in the Nord Stream operation helped journalists identify those involved
33:30 The biggest mistake of Wojciech’s life
Wojciech Cieśla, in cooperation with journalists from Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, mapped the route of the yacht Andromeda, uncovered fake companies and straw men—and gradually pieced together a mosaic that led all the way to a group from Ukraine. Key, however, was also the inaction of the Polish authorities—as well as the question of whom they were trying to protect.
In the interview with Pavla Holcová, Wojciech Cieśla speaks not only about the details of working on one of the biggest European cases of recent years but also about a professional mistake that destroyed his reputation, and also about how hard it was to rebuild it. An episode about the power of journalistic cooperation, the courage to ask uncomfortable questions—and about a sea where some ships prefer not to turn on navigation.
Follow OCCRP
Instagram ►► instagram.com/occrp
Facebook ►► facebook.com/OCCRP.org
Tik Tok ►► tiktok.com/@occrp.org
LinkedIn ►► linkedin.com/company/the-organized-crime-and-corruption-reporting-project
Twitter ►► https://x.com/OCCRP
#attack #podcast #behindthescenes
