>There was no motive for Russia to blow up the pipeline. It would be akin to shooting the hostage.
Not true, and not the same thing. When you shoot the hostage you now who did it to put the blame in court, this is still unclear who did what.
Russia's motive of destroying the pipeline was to legally shut down gas for Europe during the war without incurring any legal aftermath for it.
Simply just cutting off the gas would have made Russia legally liable for damages in court later when it will want to resume business in the future after the war.
Having the pipeline mysteriously blow up gives Russia plausible deniability for not being able to supply gas to Europe during the war:
"You see your honor, we wanted to fulfill our contractual obligation of supplying gas to Europe, but we couldn't because the pipeline was destroyed. Not our fault."
Do you really think this type of legalistic issue must be considered by global actors at this scale? Who is the "your honor" that Russia would need to address?
Yes, it does. Gazprom is a company that has a presence in Europe that can be (and was) sanctioned, and if Gazprom wishes to make money in Europe then it needs to comply to whatever "your honor" in Europe will say about any breaches of contract, so it makes sense they try to burn as little bridges as possible and protect Gazprom from any legal liability to ensure future revenues from this market.
Gazprom making money from selling gas to one of the world's most lucrative consumers is completely orthogonal to the war Russia started in Ukraine.
Not true, and not the same thing. When you shoot the hostage you now who did it to put the blame in court, this is still unclear who did what.
Russia's motive of destroying the pipeline was to legally shut down gas for Europe during the war without incurring any legal aftermath for it.
Simply just cutting off the gas would have made Russia legally liable for damages in court later when it will want to resume business in the future after the war.
Having the pipeline mysteriously blow up gives Russia plausible deniability for not being able to supply gas to Europe during the war:
"You see your honor, we wanted to fulfill our contractual obligation of supplying gas to Europe, but we couldn't because the pipeline was destroyed. Not our fault."