Trump mocks notion Russia blew up Nord Stream, implies US role

Former US President Donald Trump has ridiculed the notion that Russia may have been behind explosions at Nord Stream pipelines in Europe last year and suggested that his own country may have perpetrated it.

Speaking  in an interview with Fox News' Tucker Carlson on Tuesday, set to air in full later this week, Trump was asked “Who blew up the Nord Stream pipeline?” to which he responded by first insisting that he didn’t want to get “our country in trouble” before emphasizing that “it wasn’t Russia.”

“I don’t want to get our country in trouble so I won’t answer it. But I can tell you who it wasn’t, was Russia. How about when they blamed Russia. They said ‘Russia blew up their own pipeline.’ You got a kick out of that one, too. It wasn’t Russia,” Trump said.

While the US and other Western governments have so far offered few details about the still continuing probes into the sabotage, a detailed report released in February by American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said US President Joe Biden had personally ordered the bombing as a way to persuade Germany to ramp up support for Ukraine amid its war with Russia.

The undersea pipeline was struck by multiple blasts under mysterious circumstances last September. Some reports pointed out how delighted American officials were following the development and said the US was the major beneficiary of the sabotage since it could sell its own gas to Europe at more expensive prices.

Washington, meanwhile, rejected Hersh’s report, which relied on anonymous sources, and insisted it had had no role in blowing up the pipelines.

“It’s a completely false story. There’s no truth to it. Not a shred of it,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said, referring to Hersh’s report, in remarks carried by Fox News in February.

Ukrainian officials have also denied any involvement in the Nord Stream sabotage, and subsequent reporting by The New York Times claimed that an unnamed “pro-Ukrainian group” was behind the attack.

However, observers insist that it is highly unlikely the group could have accomplished the bombing from a small yacht as reported by the US-based daily, since the operation would have required military-grade explosives and experienced divers, among other things.

Hersh has also rejected the Times’ account as part of a “cover-up” staged by US intelligence agencies, as the mainstream newspaper has largely cited unidentified “intelligence officials” to support its story. 

Moscow, meanwhile, has also voiced skepticism about the so-called “pro-Ukrainian group,” with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasizing that the Times story was deliberately circulated by Western media outlets to distract from the revelations purportedly uncovered by Hersh.

The Russian Embassy in the US also accused Washington late last month of attempting to play down damning information about its alleged involvement in last year's Nord Stream gas pipeline blasts.

It said in a statement posted on its Telegram messaging platform that Washington was doing "everything possible" to prevent "impartial efforts" from establishing the circumstances around the explosions.

"We see this as an obvious attempt... to play down information from reputable journalists that is damaging for the United States about the likely direct involvement of American intelligence services," it said in the statement, which was posted in Russian.

"We see an obvious attempt by US authorities to hide behind the backs of the allies," it added.

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