The United States and Norway jointly carried out sabotage on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, blowing it up in September 2022 with the help of divers, and the order was given by US President Joe Biden. Veteran American journalist Seymour Hersh published an article about this on February 8 on his blog. In his report, titled “How America Dealt with Nord Stream,” Hersh claims that US Navy divers planted explosives on the pipeline in June under the cover of the well-publicized NATO exercise BALTOPS 22.
Referring to a source familiar with the planning of this operation, Hersh writes that three months later the Norwegians detonated the charges remotely on a signal from a beacon dropped from an anti-submarine aircraft, thus destroying three of the four branches of the Nord Streams.
According to an American journalist, the decision to blow up the Russian gas pipeline was made by President Joe Biden after nine months of secret discussions with a national security team that included representatives from the CIA, the State Department, the Treasury Department and the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the armed forces. The idea of sabotaging Nord Stream 2 was most actively supported by Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan, and his ideas were in line with the president’s wishes. At the same time, according to Hersh’s source, a number of CIA officials objected to the operation, warning of a “political nightmare” that would follow if information about the mission became public.
Hersh writes that the main concern of the American leadership was not how to carry out this operation, but how not to leave traces behind. That is why the divers for this mission were recruited not from the military command of the special operations forces, for whose operations the White House must report to Congress, but from the US Navy.
Norway was considered the best place for preparing the operation in Washington, since the presence of American armed forces there was very significant. In addition, the US leadership could rely on Oslo in terms of secrecy, because from the destruction of Nord Stream 2, Norway would have benefited, having been able to sell more of its gas to Europe. It was the Norwegian navy who found a suitable location for placing C4 explosives on the pipeline – a few miles from the Danish island of Bornholm, in waters where there were no strong tidal currents.
In addition, it was the Norwegian authorities who thought of carrying out the operation under the cover of the annual BALTOPS 22 exercises. The charges placed on the pipelines were supposed to be blown up using a sonar buoy dropped from a P-8 anti-submarine aircraft, which was eventually done. On September 26, a P-8, allegedly flying on schedule, dropped a buoy into the sea. A few hours later, when the signal reached the charges, there was an explosion, and three of the four Nord Stream lines were destroyed.
A spokeswoman for the US National Security Council told TASS that the data published by Hersh about the involvement of the US Navy in undermining Nord Stream 2 are “a complete lie.”
Hersh, the legendary old-school investigative journalist who essentially uncovered the US Army massacre in the Vietnamese village of Song My, followed the Watergate scandal closely, says Russian International Affairs Council expert Alexei Naumov. But today, of course, he can no longer be considered a mainstream figure who would be respected by all participants in the process, the expert adds. He gives an example: Hersh doubted the official version of the murder of Osama bin Laden, his material about this contained more than 50 links to anonymous sources.
In general, the well-known journalist is very skeptical about the statements of the US authorities and, apparently, does not question at all what the sources tell him, even if it is shocking information, says Naumov. If you study the work of Hersh, it turns out that he has sources in each of the ministries. The investigation into the bombing of Nord Stream is also based on references to unnamed sources, Naumov notes. And therefore, the perception of sensational material depends on whether certain groups trust its sources, and it certainly will not turn the mainstream point of view in the United States, the expert believes.
Vedomosti sent a request to the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov.
On September 28, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia reported that a criminal case had been opened on the fact of the damage to the Nord Streams and that the Investigation Department of the FSB of Russia under the article on international terrorism (Part 1 of Article 361 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation) would be involved in its investigation.
Two days later, at a meeting of the heads of intelligence services of the CIS countries, Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev said that the United States was the main beneficiary of explosions on gas pipelines, primarily economically. The head of the Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation, Sergei Naryshkin, in an interview with journalists, noted that Russia has “materials that indicate a Western trace in the organization and implementation of these terrorist acts.” According to him, the West is doing everything to hide the true perpetrators and organizers of this international terrorist act.”
Vedomosti sent a request to the FSB of Russia.