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UPDATE- US Still Believes Nord Stream Blasts To Be Act Of Sabotage Without US Involvement - Kirby
Faizan Hashmi Published March 23, 2023 | 01:30 AM
WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd March, 2023) The United States continues to believe that the explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines were an act of sabotage and Washington had nothing to do with it, US National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby.
"We still do believe it was an act of sabotage. The United States was not involved in any way, contrary to some fresh reporting out there," Kirby said during a press briefing.
Kirby noted that there are three investigations underway into the blasts on Nord Stream and the United States wants to let the three nations finish their respective probes first before making any statements on the issue.
Earlier on Wednesday, US journalist Seymour Hersh published another article about the Nord Stream explosion incident. According to Hersch, following a visit by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to Washington in early March, US and German intelligence agencies were tasked with creating an alternative explanation of the blasts to mislead the public opinion in the right direction. For this purpose, they used The New York Times and the German Die Zeit to publish false stories about the incident in an attempt to counter Hersch's initial claim that the Biden administration and US operatives were behind the pipelines' destruction.
After Scholz's visit to Washington, The New York Times reported, citing US officials, that new intelligence suggested the involvement of a "pro-Ukrainian group" in the Nord Stream incidents. At the same time, the US officials reportedly said there was no proof of the Ukrainian leadership being involved in the operation. Meanwhile, German newspaper Die Zeit reported, citing investigators, that the attacks had been carried out by six people of unknown nationality with the use of a boat rented from a Poland-based firm, apparently owned by two Ukrainians.
Pulitzer Prize-winner Hersh published a report in February saying that US navy divers during NATO Baltops exercises in the summer of 2022 had planted explosives to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines, which Norway activated three months later. The report added that US President Joe Biden had decided to sabotage the Nord Streams after more than nine months of secret discussions with the national security team.
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