US Wants Investigation Into Nord Stream Explosions to Continue, Ambassador to NATO Claims

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The United States denies any allegations of its involvement in the explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines and wants the investigation into the incidents to continue, US Ambassador to NATO Julianne Smith said on Thursday.

Last week, Pulitzer Prize-winning US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a report saying that US Navy divers during NATO Baltops exercises in the summer of 2022 had planted explosives to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines, which Norway activated three months later. The report added that US President Joe Biden had decided to sabotage the Nord Streams after more than nine months of secret discussions with the national security team.

"Any suggestion of that kind [the US staying behind the blasts] is preposterous," Smith told Bloomberg, while also calling for the continuation of the probe to establish those responsible.

On September 26, 2022, the blasts occurred at three of the four strings of Nord Stream 1 and 2 underwater pipelines built to carry a combined 110 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to Europe annually. The incidents halted gas deliveries to Germany ahead of the cold season, prompting a gas price hike and a scramble for alternative sources in the European Union.