Divers and sonar buoy: American journalist claims US involvement in blowing up Nord Stream

American investigative journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh said that American divers mined Nord Stream.

He wrote about this in an article on his website.

According to him, the divers operated under the cover of the Baltops 22 exercise, which took place in the Baltic Sea from June 5 to 17, 2022.

Remotely activated devices have been powered by the Norwegian Navy.

“On September 26, 2022, a P-8 patrol aircraft of the Norwegian Navy made what seemed to be a regular sortie, during which a sonar buoy was dropped.

The signal spread underwater, reaching first Nord Stream 2 and then Nord Stream 1.

A few hours later, powerful explosive charges went off and three of the four pipelines were disabled.

Within a few minutes, the methane remaining in the destroyed pipes began to accumulate on the surface of the water, and the world realized that something irreversible had happened, ”writes Hersh.

In his article, the journalist, citing an informed source, said that Biden decided on sabotage after nine months of secret discussions that took place among officials responsible for US national security.

Hersh notes that in May 2021, Biden, who had previously criticized the Nord Stream 2 project, refused to impose sanctions on the pipeline.

As Hersh writes, at the same time it was reported that representatives of the US presidential administration persuaded Vladimir Zelensky not to criticize this step.

Nevertheless, as Hersh writes, Washington was concerned about the dependence of Europe and, in particular, Germany on Russian gas.

In addition, the lifting of sanctions on Nord Stream 2 caused a backlash from Republicans in the Senate, who blocked the approval of State Department candidates, including ambassadors, to high positions.

In December 2021, National Security Adviser to the President of the United States Jake Sullivan held a meeting with representatives of the CIA, State Department, Treasury, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

According to the journalist's source, it became clear to the meeting participants that Sullivan, on behalf of the president, wants to develop a plan to undermine Nord Stream.

Initially, it was decided to put explosive devices with a 48-hour timer on Nord Stream.

However, Hersh writes, the White House was concerned that if the pipelines were blown up immediately after the exercises, the US role in the sabotage would be too obvious.

As a result, it was decided to activate the device remotely, using a sonar buoy dropped from a Norwegian aircraft.

The buoy, in turn, had to make unique low-frequency sounds that could be recognized by explosive devices.

At the same time, as Hersh notes, after the explosion, the American media never mentioned the statements of Biden and the Deputy Head of the State Department, Victoria Nuland, who at the beginning of 2022 promised to “stop” Nord Stream 2 in the event of an escalation of the crisis in Ukraine.

Asked for comment by Hersh, White House spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said, "This is a lie and a complete fabrication."

CIA spokeswoman Tammy Thorpe also called the information "completely false."

Seymour Hersh is a well-known American journalist who, in particular, wrote about the Watergate scandal, as well as the brutal treatment of prisoners by the US military in Abu Ghraib prison.

He received the Pulitzer Prize for his investigation into the massacre of the US military in Vietnam.

Explosions at Nord Stream

Explosions on three strings of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline systems occurred on September 26, 2022, near the Danish island of Bornholm.

Shortly after the incident, the Kremlin stated that the destruction at Nord Stream could be the result of sabotage.

This, in particular, was stated by Vladimir Putin, speaking on September 30 at the signing ceremony of agreements on the admission of the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions into Russia.

According to the president, in the event of an emergency at Nord Stream, we are talking about sabotage prepared by the Anglo-Saxons.

As the president noted, the organizers of the explosions "actually began to destroy the pan-European energy infrastructure."

In addition, the Russian Foreign Ministry drew attention to the fact that shortly after the explosion, Russian representatives were not allowed to investigate the incident at Nord Stream.

As Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on October 6, the unwillingness of the European side to allow specialists from the Russian Federation to participate in the investigation indicates a desire to hide the circumstances of the incident.

In turn, Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Russian Security Council, said that the United States is the economic beneficiary of the sabotage at Nord Stream.

Subsequently, Russian specialists were allowed to the place of the emergency.

Later, during a conversation with journalists, the president spoke about some of the details found at the site of the explosions.

In particular, the head of state specified that two craters three and five meters deep were formed as a result of the explosions, and the pipes of the gas pipeline system diverged by 259 meters.