TIG Post

Tag: Nord Stream

  • Russia to USA: Respond to the Nord Stream accusations

    Russia to USA: Respond to the Nord Stream accusations

    The Russian foreign ministry responded to an article by American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh that claimed the US military was responsible for the attacks on Nord Stream 2.

    According to Russia’s foreign ministry, the United States needs to explain its alleged involvement in the explosions that destroyed the undersea Nord Stream gas pipelines last year.

    It was a response to a blog entry written earlier on Wednesday by renowned American journalist Seymour Hersh, who claimed that President Joe Biden had authorised the operation and implicated the US military in the explosions.

    Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, urged the White House to respond to Hersh’s “facts.”

    Quoting one unnamed source with “direct knowledge of the operational planning”, Hersh detailed how “skilled deep-water divers” from the US Navy planted C-4 explosives during a training exercise last June, then detonated the payload remotely three months later.

    “President Joseph Biden saw the pipelines as a vehicle for [Russian President] Vladimir Putin to weaponise natural gas for his political and territorial ambitions,” Hersh wrote.

    Hersh is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist who exposed the 1969 massacre of Vietnamese civilians by American forces. He also broke the story of US troops brutalising Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib after the US invasion in 2003.

    Russia, without providing evidence, has repeatedly said NATO nations were behind last September’s explosions affecting the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines – multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects that carried Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea. Western officials have denied those accusations.

    “The White House must now comment on all these facts,” Zakharova said in a post on her Telegram page, where she summarised Hersh’s main claims regarding the alleged US involvement.

    The White House on Wednesday dismissed Hersh’s post. “This is utterly false and complete fiction,” said Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the National Security Council. A US Department of State spokesperson said the same.

    A Central Intelligence Agency spokesperson echoed the White House denial, calling the report “completely and utterly false”.

    ‘Something to hide’ The US and NATO have called the Nord Stream explosions “an act of sabotage“.

    Investigators from Sweden and Denmark – in whose exclusive economic zones the blasts occurred – have said the ruptures were a result of sabotage, but have not said who they believe was responsible.

    Russia said the countries “have something to hide” and are purposefully blocking Russia from the investigation. Its defence ministry previously accused British navy personnel of blowing up the Nord Steam pipelines.

    Construction of Nord Stream 2, designed to double the amount of gas Russia could send directly to Germany under the sea, was completed in September 2021. But the pipeline was never put into operation after Berlin shelved certification just days before Moscow sent its troops into Ukraine in February 2022.

  • Russia ‘demanding’ to be included in the Nord Stream inquiry – AJ correspondent

    Mohammed Vall of Al Jazeera, reporting from Moscow, says the absence of Russian involvement in the Nord Stream investigation is fueling Russians’ perception that the West is to blame for the damage to the two gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

    “Russia has been blaming, and it is still blaming the West, of being behind the sabotage because, they say, the main damage there is against Russian interests,” Vall said of the explosions last month that damaged the pipelines that carry Russian gas to Europe.

    “Russia is still demanding a role in this investigation, and without that, the doubts Russia has over the whole thing will remain, and any investigation results will not be accepted here in Moscow,” Vall said.

     

  • Vladmir Putin: Germany unlikely to accept Russian gas

    Putin says Germany is unlikely to take Russian gas via the Nord Stream 2 pipeline’s one remaining undamaged line, two days after Berlin rejected his initial offer.

    “A decision has not been made, and it’s unlikely to be made, but that’s no longer our business; it’s the business of our partners,” Putin said.

    The Nord Stream pipelines, intended to carry gas from Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, suffered unexplained damage, which European countries have called sabotage.

    But while Putin said on Wednesday that Russian gas could still be supplied to Europe through the one remaining intact line of the uncommissioned Nord Stream 2 pipeline, a German government spokesman ruled this out.

    “They have to decide what is more important for them: fulfilling some kind of alliance commitment, as they see it, or safeguarding their national interests,” Putin said.

     

  • Nord Stream gas pipelines: Royal Navy frigate sent to North Sea after attacks

    A Royal Navy frigate has been sent to the North Sea after suspected sabotage last week on the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

    The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said the ship was working with the Norwegian navy “to reassure those working near the gas pipelines”.

    European nations believe the damage to pipelines under the Baltic Sea could only have been caused by an attack, with Russia strongly suspected.

    The Kremlin has denied it was responsible and instead pointed the finger at the West.

    Russia’s Gazprom said on Monday that the pipelines had now stopped leaking. The gas giant said pressure had stabilised in the damaged pipelines and that it was pumping gas out of the undamaged string B of Nord Stream 2 so that its integrity could be checked.

    Methane had been bubbling up since four leaks were found on the pipelines near Denmark’s Bornholm Island.

    A British defence source told Sky News they were likely premeditated attacks using underwater explosives.

    Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said on Sunday at the Tory Party conference that Russia made “no secret” of its ability to attack underwater infrastructure.

    He said the damage to the pipelines – which run from Russia to Germany – showed “the Nordic states and ourselves are deeply vulnerable to people doing things on our cables and our pipelines”.

    Mr Wallace said the UK would acquire two specialist ships to protect the network as the country’s “internet and energy are highly reliant on pipelines and cables”.

    “The first multi-role survey ship for seabed warfare will be purchased by the end of this year, fitted out here in the UK and then operational before the end of next year,” he said.

    “The second ship will be built in the UK and we will plan to make sure it covers all our vulnerabilities.”

    Mr Wallace met other ministers of the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) on Monday to share assessments of what the MoD called a “blatant and irresponsible” attack.

    In a statement, it said the members had decided to increase their presence in the area, as well as “intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance activities” to deter future acts and reassure allies.

    The JEF is focussed on security in the High North, North Atlantic and Baltic Sea region.

    It includes Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the UK.