New Explanation of Nord Stream Incident 'Ridiculous,' Aims to Divert Attention, Expert Says

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Recent media reports about a group allegedly behind the Nord Stream blasts are "ridiculous" and aim to divert attention from accusations against the US, since such sabotage could only be carried out by a few countries, Xavier Moreau, an arms expert from the French think tank Stratpol, told Sputnik.

The New York Times reported on Tuesday, citing US officials, that new intelligence suggested the involvement of a "pro-Ukrainian group" in the Nord Stream incidents. At the same time, US officials reportedly said there was no evidence of the Ukrainian leadership being involved in the operation. Meanwhile, German newspaper Zeit reported, citing investigators, that the attacks were carried out by six people of unknown nationality with the use of a boat rented from a Poland-based firm, apparently owned by two Ukrainians.

"This version of the Baltic sabotage is grotesque. Six strangers charter a yacht in Poland and blow up three out of four pipelines at the bottom of the Baltic Sea? Washington really takes the Germans, the Europeans, and the whole world for incredibly naive ... One would expect a less stupid explanation from the US Secret Service … This is ridiculous," Moreau said.

To back up his remarks, the expert recalled, citing Swedish investigators, that the Nord Stream sabotage required the equivalent of 100 tons of trotyl, which made explosions on the pipelines very difficult to carry out.

"Destroying such a structure, at a depth of 55 meters [180 feet] and more, is only possible for the Russian Navy, the US Navy, and a few other NATO navies, but in any case never Poland or Ukraine," Moreau explained.

In addition, the expert called it "curious" that The New York Times and Zeit published their exclusives simultaneously, but without revealing the identity of the alleged six saboteurs. In this regard, Moreau also drew attention to the fact that the US narrative was changing, since Washington has abandoned the idea of accusing Russia of the explosions and focused on taking suspicions away from itself instead.

"The United States is not part of the investigation led by the Swedes and the Danes and has not announced that it would conduct an investigation on its own side. And then, lo and behold! It is Washington that finds the answer to the question of who sabotaged Nord Stream 1 and 2. This is clearly an attempt to distract the public from the very believable explanation, given by respected journalist Seymour Hersh: the US Navy is allegedly responsible for the sabotage, with the help of the Norwegian Navy," Moreau said.

He called Hersh's explanation much more credible than "the rantings of the US services" and said that a whole group of countries could have benefited from the disruption of the Nord Stream pipelines for various reasons. In particular, Polish President Andrzej Duda insistently demanded the dismantling of the Nord Stream pipelines in August 2022. Similar calls were also voiced by Norway, which installed its Baltic Pipe to divert some of its gas sent to Germany, to Poland. Meanwhile, Washington's interest is explained by the fact that the US is now delivering shale gas in the form of LNG to Europe, but at four times the price that was paid by Europe and particularly Germany to Russia for its gas, Moreau said.

"What is difficult to understand is that the German government of Chancellor [Olaf] Scholz remains silent in all languages: not the slightest protest as Germany has just lost tens of billions of euros in investments paid for the pipelines by all German citizens. Germany sees itself as an ally of the United States. If — as is more than likely — the version of Pulitzer Prize-winner Seymour Hersh is correct, Germany is not even the vassal of the United States, it is a vulgar dependency, a dominion which is not consulted when its economic future is at stake, and who does not even dare protest," the expert told Sputnik.

The Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, built to deliver gas under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, have been dysfunctional since they were hit by explosions last September. Nord Stream's operator, Nord Stream AG, said that the damage was unprecedented and that it was impossible to estimate how long repairs might take.

Russia considers the explosions of the two pipelines an act of international terrorism. There are no official results of the investigation yet, but Pulitzer Prize-winning US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a report in February 2023 saying that US Navy divers during the NATO BALTOPS exercises in the summer of 2022 planted explosives to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines, which Norway activated three months later. The report added that US President Joe Biden decided to sabotage the Nord Stream pipelines after more than nine months of secret discussions with the national security team.