Blame Game: US Intel Tells NYT 'Pro-Ukrainian Group' Behind Nord Stream Bombing

The September 26, 2022, bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline deep underneath the Baltic Sea released more methane gas into the atmosphere than any previous industrial disaster - some 400,000 metric tons before it was plugged 17 days later.

A new report published in the New York Times on Tuesday claims a “pro-Ukrainian group” was behind the Nord Stream pipeline attack, discarding recent evidence pointing the finger firmly at Washington unearthed by veteran journalist Seymour Hersh.

According to the NYT report, which was based on “new intelligence reviewed by US officials,” the attack was carried out without the involvement of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky or his government.

However, the evidence given to the paper by US officials is extremely vague, saying only that “the review of newly collected intelligence suggests they were opponents of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.” The paper notes that US intelligence officials were loath to discuss any specifics about the evidence or how it was obtained.

“They have said that there are no firm conclusions about it, leaving open the possibility that the operation might have been conducted off the books by a proxy force with connections to the Ukrainian government or its security services,” the Times wrote, referring to the intel officials.

The Times report makes absolutely no mention of another report by veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh last month that claimed US Navy divers had planted bombs on the pipeline during drills the previous summer, following months of heated debate about the wisdom of doing so within the US national security community.

The White House dismissed Hersh’s report as "false and complete fiction,” and the article was published on the newsletter site Substack, rather than in any major newspaper.

The US government and corporate media have long ignored Hersh’s pioneering work, including his 1970 reporting on the My Lai massacre by US soldiers during the Vietnam War, for which he won a Pulitzer Prize. He later played a key role in exposing the CIA’s many secret activities in other countries, leading to congressional investigations and reforms of the agency. He was later hired by the New York Times in 1972 and wrote for them for several years.

When asked about the Times article on Tuesday, the journalist laughed and refused to comment, only telling Sputnik: “well, I’m just looking at it. Gee, the sources aren’t named … I’ve got nothing to say.”

The anonymous sourcing in Hersh’s article on the Nord Stream bombing have been used by critics to discredit his work.

The natural gas pipeline once ushered huge amounts of fuel into Western Europe from Russia, and a second parallel pipeline, Nord Stream II, was completed before being blocked from operation by the German government under US pressure. Washington has long expressed its opposition to the project and to Western Europe buying energy from Russia, including pressuring its allies to buy more expensive US gas exports.

Following the September 2022 bombing, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken mused that it was "a tremendous opportunity" to divorce Europe from Russian exports.