American journalist Seymour Hersh, who published an article investigating the explosions in the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, said that the USA decided to blow up the pipelines because of its distrust in Germany. in an interview Berliner Zeitung Hersh alleges that US President Joe Biden feared Germany’s withdrawal from the sanctions regime against Russia.
“I think the reason for this decision is because of military operations. [на Украине] Things were not going well for the West and they were afraid of the approaching winter. “North Stream 2 was suspended by Germany, not international sanctions, and the United States feared that Germany would lift sanctions because of the cold winter.”
According to him, many participants in the covert operation to undermine the gas pipelines, occupying “high positions in the special services”, opposed this plan, “considering it to be insane.”
“The President of the United States would rather freeze Germany than stop supporting Ukraine,” said Hersh. “Those who participated in the operation saw that the president was ready to freeze Germany for their immediate political goals, and this terrified them.”
The journalist also recalled Biden’s remarks that Washington would “stop” the gas pipeline at a press conference at the White House following talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in early February 2022. At the same time, according to Hersh, Biden had no such plans in his meeting with Scholz.
“At the last moment, the White House was agitated”
In an interview, the journalist also said that the sabotage in Nord Stream should take place in June 2022.
But at the last moment, the White House was uneasy. The president said he was afraid to do that. He changed his mind and gave new orders the ability to detonate bombs from afar at any time,” Hersh says.
As a result, the demolition operation was postponed to September. According to the journalist, only six of the eight bombs exploded due to the explosives being underwater for too long.
Answering a question about Norway’s role in this operation, Hersh said that because Oslo is interested in increasing gas supplies to Europe, the country has agreed to help the United States organize the explosions. Also, according to him, there is a feeling of hostility towards Russia in Norway.
What is known about the investigation
Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh cited in his February 8 article citing an unnamed source with “direct knowledge of action planning”, stating that US Navy divers placed explosives in Russia’s waters as part of NATO’s Baltops-2022 exercises in June 2022. gas pipelines.
Three months later, according to Hersh, the bombs were operated remotely by Norwegian experts.
The article claims that the Nord Stream explosions were a covert US operation; The executive decision was made personally by the country’s president after nine months of consultations with representatives of the administration. A number of Western journalists, notably Reuters, criticized Hersh for citing only one anonymous source in his broadcast.
The White House described the article as a lie and purely fiction. The Pentagon and Germany also denied US involvement in blowing up gas pipelines. At the same time, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that the US authorities not only admitted involvement in the explosions, but “talked about it with pleasure”.
The explosions in Nord Stream occurred on the night of September 26. Three of the four pipelines were damaged. Pipeline operator Nord Stream AG said it was not possible to predict the timing of the repair.
Russia and EU countries recognized the incident as sabotage and launched independent investigations into the incident. Swedish authorities announced that the investigation was complete, but those responsible were not named.
On 14 February, a draft resolution was submitted to the State Duma to appeal to the UN with a proposal to launch an international investigation into the explosions. However, Stephane Dujarric, the representative of the organization’s secretary general, replied that the UN does not have the authority to investigate this incident.