The image from September 27, 2022, shows the gas leak at the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline as it is seen from the Danish Defence’s F-16 rejection response off the Danish Baltic island of Bornholm, south of Dueodde. AFP/DANISH DEFENCE.
Washington: “Not a shred” of Seymour Hersh’s report alleging the US involvement in the Nord Stream gas pipelines explosions is true, said White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.
‘Completely false story’
“It’s a completely false story. There is no truth to it. Not a shred of it. It is not true. The United States, and no proxies of the United States had anything to do with that, nothing,” Kirby told Fox News Sunday when he was asked about Pulitzer Award-winning investigative journalist and former New Yorker staff writer Seymour Hersh.
In a report on 8 February, Hersh citied an anonymous source claiming that the 26 September Nord Stream pipeline bursts were carried out by US Navy divers which they claimed to be a NATO military exercise.
The pipelines – Nord Stream I and its completed-but-still-unused companion, Nord Stream II – are used to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea.
Speculation about US’ involvement in Nord Stream blasts
Speculations about the involvement of the US in the Nord Stream explosion began to rise after clips of President Joe Biden’s comment from February last year in which he hinted that the gas pipelines would be shut down as they began re-entering the public sphere.
“There will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it,” the US President said, adding, “I promise you, we will be able to do it.”
Also Read: Russia wants UN probe into Nord Stream gas pipelines explosions
Responding to a question if US would have an obligation to inform Congress of an operation like the one Hersh claims occurred, Kirby said the National Security Council continues to inform Congress “appropriately” on both classified and unclassified situations.
“Obviously, we keep Congress informed appropriately of things both classified and unclassified. But I can tell you now, regardless of the notification process, there was no US involvement in this,” he said.
Seymour Hersh’s report
Hersh in his report claimed that divers trained at the US Navy’s Diving and Salvage Centre in Florida, planted C4 explosives on three Nord Stream pipelines in June 2022. They were detonated after three months using a sonar buoy which broadcast a signal that triggered the bombs.
In a 5,000 words report, he claimed that the “top secret and highly-dangerous operation” was carried out by the divers during BALTOPS22, a series of military exercises in the Baltic Sea carried out by 16 NATO countries.
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Citing a source ‘with direct knowledge of the operational planning’ behind the alleged plot of explosion, Hersh said the US divers reportedly used the 13-day event in June last year as cover for their top-secret mission.
He alleged that the decision to do so was made by Biden after nine months of discussions with US national security officials.
Last week, the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, voted to appeal to the UN Security Council to open an investigation into the Nord Stream sabotage. Also, Moscow has requested a meeting of the Security Council on 22 February to discuss the pipeline attacks.
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