The New York Times has carried a news story citing unnamed US intelligence officials to say that a pro-Ukrainian group was behind the sabotage of Russia's Nord Stream gas pipeline in September last year.
According to the news article, the under-sea bombing that destroyed the key gas pipeline to Europe might have been "conducted off the books by a proxy force with connections to the Ukrainian government or its security services."
Unnamed Sources, Unspecified Intelligence Inputs
The news story with anonymous sources, however, refrains from speculating who "directed or paid for the operation." It then explains that the Nord Stream attackers were "most likely Ukrainian or Russian nationals, or some combination of the two."
The intelligence officials cited by the NYT goes all the way to absolve Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, however, saying that they do not have any evidence to show that Zelensky or his top lieutenants" were involved.
The NYT article comes in the backdrop of the sensational investigative report by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh in February, which said the United States was behind the bombing of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline.
Seymour Hersh Bombshell
Writing in his blog on Substack, Hersh said US Navy divers planted explosives at the pipelines in June last year, under the guise of BALTOPS 22 NATO exercise. The article saud that the bombing of the Nord Stream pipeline was the culmination of months-long planning and preparations by the US. President Joe Biden and all his top leadership team participated in a series of top secret discussions in the lead-up to the act.
Alongside the NYT, German newspaper Die Zeit also carried an article that says a pro-Ukrainian saboteur group might have carried out the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
Both the NYT and Die Zeit reports apparently seek to absolve the US of the role in the bombing of the prized Russian asset in the middle of the Ukraine war. However, according to the Guardian newspaper's admission, the stories have sketchy details. There is no information on how the attack was organized, funded and carried out.
Sketchy Detaiils
"Details about the intelligence remain sketchy and it is unclear what confidence the US intelligence community places in the theory, as well as who may have organised, funded and directed such a daring attack on the gas pipelines running between Russia and Germany. But it is suggested that the government of Kyiv did not direct the underwater strike," the report says.
Meanwhile, the Guardian report also states that Ukraine had long opposed the Nord Stream gas pipeline that connected Russia and Germany. "The Nord Stream gas pipelines connected Russia and Germany and were long opposed by Ukraine as they would have let Moscow sell more gas to western Europe," the article says.
The new theory goes along the lines of the investigative report by Seymour Hersh inasmuch as it says the attack, which destroyed there of the four Nord Stream pipelines, by under sea bombs that were planted by experienced divers. The bombers appeared to have "specialized government training in the past," though they were unlikely to be members of a military, the report says.
The article then goes on to state that US President Joe Biden did not authorize the attack and that there was no US involvement in the bombing.
