German lawmaker denounces Scholz's silence on US role in Nord Stream sabotage

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's silence on the recent revelation by veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh that US Navy divers blew up Russia's Nord Stream gas pipeline speaks volumes, a senior German lawmaker says. 

Maximilian Krah, who serves as an Alternative for Germany (AFD) member in the European Parliament, in an interview with Russia's Sputnik news agency, said Scholz's silence on the report suggested that he must have been warned in advance about the covert sea operation.

"It is certain that the German government was informed of the sabotage beforehand by the Americans," the German lawmaker was quoted as saying.

"This is the only explanation for Scholz's awkward silence. With the addition of a woke and irresponsible warmonger like [Foreign Minister Annalena] Baerbock, who declares that Germany is at war with Russia, nothing surprises me."

Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist who exposed US atrocities in the Vietnam War and more recently the torture of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison, dropped the bombshell in his blog post published on Wednesday.

He said the bombing of the Nord Stream pipelines in September last year, which came amid heightened tensions between Moscow and the West, was ordered by the US and carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in a covert operation.

The 85-year-old journalist claimed that US Navy divers, operating under cover of a mid-summer NATO military exercise, planted remotely triggered bombs to destroy three of the four Nord Stream pipelines.

Krah said the US-engineered sabotage put an end to what had long been a headache for the German government — "the need to justify to Germans why the second leg of the natural gas pipeline had not been pumping cheap gas to his country", as reported by Sputnik.

"The problem is that this is tearing the German economy to pieces and significantly impoverishes Germany. Moreover, the billions spent by Germany on this gas project, which ensured us cheap energy, are lost, but the coalition which governs Germany does not care," he noted.

"Officially, Scholz knows nothing. Apparently, we live in a democracy."

US Navy bombed Nord Stream gas pipelines in covert sea operation: Seymour Hersh

The US Navy has bombed the Nord Stream gas pipelines in a covert sea operation, a famous American journalist claims.

In his breakthrough investigation, Hersh said cheap Russian gas had been a boon for the German economy, decreasing Europe's dependence on the US.

Citing a source with direct knowledge of the US operational planning, the seasoned journalist wrote that Norway played a key role in helping the US organize the attack while keeping the Swedish and Danish navies in the dark.

Krah said it was obvious to everyone in the German opposition that sabotaging critical energy infrastructure was the job of the NATO military alliance, terming reports that pointed to the Russian hand in it as "ridiculous".

"The State Department and the White House categorically deny it, but I was in Washington two months ago and all my American political interlocutors, Democrats and Republicans alike, had no doubts: it was the United States that organized or sponsored the action by the British, and it was Biden who personally gave the green light," the lawmaker asserted.

"Democrats and Republicans in Congress disagree on everything, except on their willingness to pursue an aggressive foreign policy, especially toward China and Russia," he added.

On September 26, 2022, three huge gas leaks, preceded by a series of explosions, occurred on the gas pipelines. The powerful blasts, according to Moscow, knocked out three of the four strings of the Nord Stream network off the coast of the Danish island of Bornholm.

The 1,200-kilometer pipelines, operated by Russian gas giant Gazprom, are not currently in operation, but they both still contain gas under pressure.

Denmark, Germany and Sweden conducted separate investigations into the incident, barring Russia from participating in their investigations.

The preliminary results of a Sweden-Denmark probe showed that the blasts had been "intentional sabotage", but no culprit has yet been identified.

Reacting to the report on Thursday, Russia blamed the US for explosions and warned of a response.

“Our assumption was that the US and several NATO allies were involved in this disgusting crime,” Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told reporters in Moscow, saying the report by Hersh wasn’t a surprise for Russia.

Ryabkov threatened unspecified “consequences” for Washington, the state RIA Novosti news service reported.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov termed it a "very serious" article that had a "deep analysis."

"It would be unfair not to give it attention," he was quoted as saying on Thursday. "Unfortunately, the article was not widely disseminated in the Western media, which cannot but cause our surprise."

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk