New intelligence that has been reviewed by U.S. government officials points to a pro-Ukrainian group as the likely perpetrator of the Nord Stream pipeline bombings last year, the New York Times has reported, citing unnamed officials.
The report comes a month after U.S. investigative journalist Seymour Hersch reported, citing an unnamed source from the U.S. government that it was Washington that had carried out the sabotage, with help from Norway.
The official investigation of the sabotage that is being carried out by Sweden and Denmark is still ongoing, with the investigators failing to reach any definitive conclusion so far.
According to the new report by the New York Times, there was no evidence that the Ukrainian government was involved in the attacks or that it had ordered them.
The report also notes that some U.S. government officials believe Ukraine and its allies had the most motive to carry out the attacks, after years of opposition to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, as the new pipeline would increase Russia’s gas sales to Europe and threaten Ukraine’s transit fee revenues.
President Biden, for his part, said last year that if Russia moves further into Ukraine, the U.S. will shut down the Nord Stream pipeline.
According to the NYT’s sources, little was known about the alleged perpetrators of the acts of sabotage beyond the claim they were opponents of Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. The intelligence, the report said, did not specify who the members of that group were or who paid for the sabotage of Nord Stream.
The report further noted that the sources declined to elaborate on the nature of the intelligence that they based the allegations on, and on the strength of the evidence it contained. They did tell the NYT, however, that those involved were most likely Ukrainians and/or Russians, and that no Americans or Britons had been involved.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
