US President Joe Biden ordered the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines in order to make sure Germany could not change its mind about sanctions against Russia and weapons shipments to Ukraine, according to famed American journalist Seymour Hersh.
Earlier this month, Hersh wrote an article that blamed the US and Norway for the series of explosions that disabled both Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, the pipelines under the Baltic Sea built to supply Western Europe with Russian natural gas.
In an interview with RT, the investigative journalist said the US wanted to make sure Europe will continue to support the “proxy war” against Russia.
Hersh said the rationale for the mission was “to make sure that Europe keeps on supporting NATO and keeps funneling arms into what is clearly a proxy war against Russia that’s being fought right now.”
“It’s not going to help the war. What he was doing it for, was to prevent Germany and Western Europe, in case the winter came quickly, from opening up the pipeline,” Hersh said.
‘Biden words upset US spies’
Hersh said the US intelligence community hatched the plan in late 2021, before the escalation of hostilities in Ukraine.
“The people who did this thing in the intelligence community, they initially thought it was a great idea,” Hersh told RT.
When Biden and Under Secretary of State Victoria Nuland both publicly spoke about “stopping” and “ending” Nord Stream 2, Hersh claimed the spies were upset, “because it was supposed to be a covert operation.”
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According to his story, the bombs were planted in June, during the BALTOPS 2022 naval exercise in the Baltic Sea, and they went off in late September.
The White House has rejected Hersh’s report as "utterly false and complete fiction."
But Russia has officially accused the US of being behind the explosions and called for an independent UN investigation into what it described as an act of international terrorism.
Following the blasts, Denmark, Germany, and Sweden conducted investigations into the incident.
The preliminary results of a joint probe by Sweden and Denmark showed that the explosions had been "intentional sabotage," but responsibility was not assigned to any party.
On Tuesday, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations said the investigations of Germany, Denmark, and Sweden into the sabotage are aimed at protecting Washington.
Vasily Nebenzia told a UN Security Council session that Western countries were showing no intention of cooperating with Moscow in an inquiry into the blasts.
"We have strong reasons to doubt the effectiveness, transparency, and impartiality of investigations that are being carried out under some national jurisdictions," Nebenzia said, adding, "We do not see our partners being eager to cooperate."
China has also called for an objective, impartial and professional investigation into the explosions, urging relevant sides to heed the calls of the international community.