![]() The German Public Prosecutor General launched its own investigation on 10 October 2022, with the assistance of the German Navy, given that Nord Stream makes landfall on German territory, and the country’s energy sector was most impacted by the attack. Unsurprisingly, Russia was not allowed to participate, despite being the majority-owner of the pipelines. An investigation was set up by Sweden and Denmark, who control the subsea economic zone in which the pipes were blown up. However, as the days and weeks passed, cracks began opening up in this narrative. Meanwhile, a senior European environmental official told The Washington Post that: “no one on the European side of the ocean is thinking this is anything other than Russian sabotage.” Investigation This opinion was repeated by the majority of political leaders and commentators in the West, with German Economy Minister Robert Habeck stating: “Russia saying ‘It wasn’t us’ is like saying ‘I’m not the thief.’” Four days after the blasts, US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm told the BBC, it “seems” Russia was the culprit. Nevertheless, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak immediately and openly accused Russia of conducting a terrorist attack” that sought to “destabilise the economic situation in Europe and cause pre-winter panic.” The anti-Russian Baltic States concurred, with Latvia’s Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs raving on Twitter about a “new phase of hybrid war.” What possible motive would Russia have to bomb its own pipelines, severing not only an important source of revenue, but also breaking a powerful yoke over Ukraine’s European allies? Are we interested in that? No, we are not, we have lost a route for gas supplies to Europe.” A reasonable point, to be sure. “The entire system is ready to pump gas and the gas is very expensive… Now the gas is flying off into the air. “This is a big problem for us because, firstly, both lines of Nord Stream 2 are filled with gas,” Peskov said. ![]() When the blasts were reported, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell released a thinly-veiled accusation of Russian responsibility on behalf of the EU, stating that: “any deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure is utterly unacceptable and will be met with a robust and united response.” But Russia flatly denied it had anything to do with the sabotage, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov calling the idea “ stupid and absurd.” ![]() Although Russia claimed this was due to ‘maintenance’, it was clear that Nord Stream could be used as leverage: shutting off the gas supplies and driving up energy bills in western Europe to undermine public support for sending arms to Ukraine. It is no secret that the US long opposed the Nord Stream pipelines, which are majority-owned by the Russian state gas company, Gazprom, and formerly supplied Europe with ready quantities of cheap Russian natural gas, reducing the continent’s reliance on US energy.įollowing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the flow of natural gas through Nord Stream was repeatedly reduced and eventually halted altogether. Now, a bombshell exposé by a renowned American journalist has accused the US of orchestrating the attack.īefore we look at the new report, let us consider the background. Ukrainian and Western politicians immediately blamed “Russian sabotage”: a claim that was repeated verbatim by all the major media outlets, without a shred of evidence, as part of a relentless slew of war propaganda. The blasts rendered three of the four lines inoperable, and released vast quantities of gas into the Baltic Sea. On 26 September 2022, news broke of explosions at the Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines, which run from Russia to Germany.
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