The Nord Stream 2 pipeline in the Baltic Sea, which transports natural gas from Russia to Western Europe, was attacked last September, according to U.S. intelligence officials, who speculate that an unidentified “pro-Ukrainian group” was responsible. As natural gas spilled toward the surface of the Baltic Sea in Sept., Denmark and Sweden reported major damage to the pipes.
The national government or Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky were not involved in the attack, officials claimed, according to a New York Times story, and they declined to provide any further details regarding the fresh intelligence gathered. The Times’ unidentified sources made no mention of the mysterious organization they claimed was responsible for the pipeline explosion but insisted neither the United States nor the United Kingdom was involved in the attack.
Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative writer, claimed this month that U.S. Navy divers had allegedly installed remotely detonated explosives on the pipeline during training drills over the summer. Hersh’s report was refuted by the CIA and the White House.
According to The Daily Mail In a briefing call on Tuesday with reporters, John Kirby, the coordinator for strategic communications at the National Security Council, declined to comment on the Times article, stating that the inquiries into the “sabotage” of the pipeline by Germany, Denmark, and Sweden are still underway.
“Three investigations are currently ongoing,” according to Kirby. “And they aren’t done,” he continued, noting that the details of those reports had not yet been made public.
Before Russia invaded Ukraine a year ago, the twin Nord Stream pipelines were at the focus of global conflict. Russia stopped shipments through Nord Stream 1 as retaliation against Western Europe months into the war, and Germany stopped shipments from going through the Nord Stream 2 days prior to the war even starting.
Just prior to the start of the conflict, President Joe Biden assured a journalist that “we will be able” to put a “end” to the system and warned that “there won’t be a Nord Stream 2 any longer” if Russia managed to cross the Ukrainian border.
Penalties against the Russian-owned firm operating Nord Stream 2 were at first waived by the commander-in-chief; however, just prior to the invasion beginning, he reimposed the sanctions.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken called the destruction of Nord Stream 2 as a “tremendous opportunity” to put an end to European dependency on Russian energy sources. German demonstrators have been requesting that the flow of energy restart because of skyrocketing electricity costs even though the pipes had not been flowing natural gas. The possibility of Germany lifting sanctions in enough time to import natural gas for the cold winter weather was ruled out by the pipelines’ damage.
