CIA has issued Nord Stream blast warning to US allies
A US media report has revealed that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has warned allies in the EU of a possible attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines by a pro-Ukrainian group. Russia has dismissed such reports, saying it was an attempt to divert attention from the real perpetrators and acquit the United States.
Citing intelligence officials, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday that around June and July last year, the CIA informed the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and other European agencies that three Ukrainian nationals were attempting to acquire ships in states around the Baltic Sea , including Sweden, to target the pipelines.
A month after the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines last September, CIA Director William Burns and White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan are said to have raised the possibility that Ukraine had orchestrated the sabotage of the pipelines being built to deliver Russia's natural gas to Germany.
The report came amid a war of words between the US and Russia over the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines.
Moscow said the United States should try to prove it wasn't behind the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipelines that connected Russia to Western Europe.
Russia has said it considers the destruction of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines "an act of international terrorism" and will not allow it to be swept under the rug.
In an exclusive report Tuesday, The New York Times said US officials had evidence a "pro-Ukrainian group" bombed the Nord Stream gas pipelines, without citing the source of the information and the alleged group involved.
According to the report, officials had no evidence that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was implicated in the sabotage, although the bombing benefited Kiev by severely damaging Russia's revenues from natural gas sales to Western Europe.
According to the report, the intelligence agency suspected the culprits behind the sabotage were "opponents of President Vladimir Putin of Russia," who launched a war against Ukraine on February 22 last year.
German news agencies reported this week that investigators were examining a yacht owned by a Poland-based company "apparently" owned by two Ukrainians in a possible connection to the sabotage.
Last month, American journalist Seymour Hersh said the bombing of the pipelines was ordered directly by US President Joe Biden and carried out by the CIA with the help of the US Navy.
The White House and CIA denied the report and tried to blame certain groups in Ukraine for the attack.
Russia: US media tries to divert attention from real perpetrators
Russia has denied US media reports that a pro-Ukrainian group may be behind last year's attack on the Nord Stream subsea gas pipeline.
Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov hinted on Wednesday that such reports are an attempt to divert attention from the real perpetrators and acquit NATO countries.
The Kremlin spokesman also called for a quick and transparent investigation into the blasts, adding that Russia must be involved in the investigation.
The United States and NATO had described the September incident as an act of sabotage. Moscow has blamed the West, arguing that it is not really interested in a full international investigation into the incident.
