White House Denies Report That U.S. Blew Up Nord Stream Pipeline

TThe White House denied Wednesday a report by controversial investigative reporter Seymour Hersh claiming that the United States was behind attacks on the Nord Stream Gas pipelines 1 and 2 linking Russia Germany

Hersh is an investigative journalist who won the Pulitzer Prize and was a former New Yorker Staff writer, whose reporting has been frequently under scrutiny in recent years, wrote in Substack post Wednesday’s Nord Stream blasts were a covert operation by Navy divers working under cover of NATO military exercises.

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“Last June, Navy divers operating under thecover of [the NATO exercise] BALTOPS 22 (also known as BALTOPS 22) planted the remotely triggered explosives, which were used to destroy three of the four. [pipelines],” Hersh wrote.

In his lengthy post, he cited only one anonymous source. He claimed that he had received the information from a friend. “direct knowledge of the operational planning.”

The report was denied by U.S. intelligence and national security officials.

Adrienne Watson, spokesperson for the White House National Security Council told The Washington Examiner the report was “false and complete fiction.”

Tammy Thorp, CIA spokesperson, stated that the Washington Examiner Send an email to: “This claim is completely and utterly false.”

Hersh’s article caused Russia’s foreign ministry on Wednesday to weigh in, asking that the U.S. reply.

“The White House must now comment on all these facts,” Maria Zakharova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, spoke on Telegram

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) Tweet Writing about Wednesday’s report “If false, slander. If true, war.”

Four undersea explosions caused damage to the Nord Stream pipelines in September. Officials from Europe claimed that the explosions were responsible for “extensive damage” Nord Stream 1 was the main gas artery that links Russia and the EU. It supplied the bulk of the bloc’s supplies up until Moscow cut off its deliveries last summer.

Construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was completed by late 2021 but it was not brought online because Russia’s looming invasion.

Separate investigations by the Swedish and Danish security officials have been conducted into the explosions that occurred within their exclusive economic zones.

They joined President Joe Biden, as well as several other Western leaders, in calling the blasts an act of aggression. “gross sabotage,” Although neither country has concluded its investigation or identified the perpetrators of the explosions,

Officials from the Swedish Security Office, as well the Danish Security And Intelligence Service, declined to comment on Hersh’s reports. Washington Examiner They cannot comment on the current status of an investigation. European leaders Vowed Last fall, it was clear that any deliberate act would result in a criminal prosecution “robust and united response.”

Germany is also currently conducting its own investigation into these blasts. The local news outlet was informed by Peter Frank, German Attorney General. Die Welt Interview Sunday: It is too early for us to make any conclusion about the cause of the explosions.

He also refused to call the blasts sabotage. “[What] I can say is that the suspicion that this was a foreign sabotage action has not yet been substantiated,” He said.

Hersh (now 85) has been criticized for his reporting in the past decade.

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In recent years, Hersh has disputed the U.S. government’s account of the 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden and questioned the Syrian government’s use of sarin gas, a chemical weapon, in its attacks on civilians.

He said in a 2018 interview that he “doesn’t necessarily buy the story that bin Laden was responsible for 9/11.”