WP: there is no evidence of Russia’s involvement in the Nord Stream bombings

After the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline sabotage attacks, many Western leaders were quick to blame Russia for them, but dozens of Western officials and intelligence officials are now privately stating that there is no evidence of Moscow’s involvement. writes newspaper The Washington Post.

“At the moment, there is no evidence that Russia was behind the sabotage,” the publication quotes the words of one of more than 20 representatives of the diplomatic and intelligence services he interviewed in nine countries.

Some of these people said that they do not consider Moscow involved in the incidents on the gas pipelines, while for the rest it remains the main suspect. According to the interlocutors of the publication, who doubt Russia’s involvement in sabotage, Moscow could not and did not receive any benefit from them, while the gas pipelines were, in their opinion, a “lever of pressure” on the EU, which it has now lost.

Others suggest that Russia, through these sabotage, allegedly wanted to demonstrate the vulnerability of pipelines, cables and other underwater infrastructure, thereby threatening the countries that support Kyiv.

According to the publication, American intelligence did not intercept any conversations between the Russian military or officials, which could directly or indirectly indicate the involvement of the Russian Federation in the incidents. The complexity of the investigation poses a risk that sabotage may go unrevealed altogether, some Westerners warn.

On the night of September 26, pressure dropped on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, and later two leaks were discovered that were located in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Sweden, and two more in the Danish EEZ. The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, said that these incidents were premeditated, and the Kremlin admitted that it could be a “terrorist attack at the state level.” On September 30, during a speech in the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West of sabotage on the Nord Stream highways and the destruction of the European energy structure.

In November, the Danish authorities issued permission from Nord Stream AG to conduct its own investigation of damage to gas pipelines in the Danish EEZ. On November 2, Nord Stream announced that the initial data collection at the site of the first string of gas pipeline damage in the Swedish EEZ has been completed. According to the preliminary results of the inspection, technogenic craters with a depth of three to five meters were found at a distance of about 248 m from each other. Also, experts pointed to a completely destroyed section of the pipe between the craters. According to them, the radius of dispersion of pipe fragments is at least 250 m.