Lavrov: US officials admit involvement in Nord Stream explosions

United States officials admit that they are behind the Nord Stream explosions and are happy to talk about it, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Interview published on the website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He said that according to the US, Russia has cooperated “too well” with Germany over the past 20-30 years, which created a “powerful alliance” on Russian resources and German technology. Lavrov noted that this has become a threat to many American monopoly corporations.

“Essentially, US officials admit that the explosions that occurred at Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 were their work. Now they even talk about it with pleasure. There is a moment here connected with the fact that friendship between countries, national reconciliation between them, as happened between Russians and Germans, has become a “bone in the throat” for those who do not want someone to appear somewhere on this planet, who will compete with the main hegemon that the United States has declared itself to be,” the minister said.

February 8 American journalist Seymour Hersh published on his website, an article in which he stated, with reference to an informed source, about the involvement of the United States and Norway in undermining the Nord Streams. According to him, United States President Joe Biden decided to sabotage the gas pipelines after more than nine months of secret discussions with the national security team. Hersh claims that American divers planted explosives under the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines during NATO exercises in the summer of 2022. On September 26 of the same year, a Norwegian naval aircraft dropped a sonar buoy. It was he who set off the explosives, the journalist concluded.

Adrianne Watson, the head of the press service of the White House National Security Council, called the information about US involvement in the bombing a lie and a “complete fiction”.

The incident on the gas pipelines occurred on the night of September 26, 2022. Then pressure dropped in both pipelines, and later two leaks were discovered, which were located in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Sweden, and two more in the Danish EEZ. Initially, the three countries agreed to conduct a joint investigation, but later this idea was abandoned.

In early October, the Swedish State Security Service (SEPO) announced the completion of the investigation at Nord Stream. Investigators said they were “increasing suspicions of gross sabotage”, but they also did not name those responsible for the incident.