(DCWatchdog.com) – According to US intelligence, a pro-Ukrainian group, which likely did not act upon orders from Ukraine’s government, is behind the destruction of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline between Russia and Germany.
Russian leader Vladimir Putin has championed the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline to deliver natural gas directly to Germany through the Baltic Sea, bypassing intermediary countries.
Its construction was halted for almost two years because of sanctions that then-US President Donald Trump slapped on it, but it was completed after Joe Biden lifted them in 2021.
In September 2022, months after Putin’s Russia invaded Ukraine, an underwater explosion in the Baltic Sea destroyed part of Nord Stream 2, with no one assuming responsibility for the attack.
A report by The New York Times now claims that an unspecified “pro-Ukrainian group” carried out the Nord Stream attack, citing unnamed US officials who have “reviewed new intelligence.”
The report described the new information as making progress towards establishing the perpetrator of the sabotage, Newsmax reported.
The quoted sources said there was no evidence that Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or any other Ukrainian officials were involved in the plot.
Speculations about who carried out the Nord Stream attack have accused Putin’s Ukraine, Ukraine, the United States, and Britain.
In February, the White House rejected the claims of investigative journalist Seymour Hersch that the US government blew up the underwater Russian gas pipeline.
Hersh had self-published a report alleging that Norway had helped the US Navy place explosives on the pipeline in June, and they were detonated three months later.
Adrienne Watson, the White House National Security Council spokeswoman, described the Hersh report as “complete fiction.”
The New York Times notes some officials have viewed Ukraine and its allies as most likely to sabotage Nord Stream. Ukraine’s government has described Putin’s Baltic Sea project as a national security threat.
US government sources admit that much remains unknown about the pro-Ukrainian saboteurs of the Russian natural gas pipeline.
The new intelligence shows they oppose Russian leader Putin, but the group’s name or members are not revealed. It is also unknown how the new intelligence was gathered.
The quoted US officials said the new information does not rule out the possibility that a proxy force carried out the attack on Nord Stream 2 with ties to the government or intelligence services of Ukraine.
According to the new data, no US or UK nationals participated in the attack, but Ukrainian and/or Russian citizens were involved.
At the same time, the report informs that US officials are “split” on whether the new intelligence is credible.
