"First of all, it was about the threat": Hersh announced US plans to blackmail Russia by undermining Nord Streams

American journalist, Winner of the Pulitzer Prize Seymour Hersh expressed the view that the United States intended to use the threat of undermining the Nord Streams as a lever of pressure on the Russian leadership.

In an interview with the German edition of Tichys Einblick, Hersh said that at the end of 2021, a "request" was formed in Washington for something unusual that US President Joe Biden could use as bait or threat to allegedly convince the Russian leadership not to launch a special operation in Ukraine.

"First of all, it was about the threat. I think this government is not very good at persuasion. Rather, they act on the principle of "you are either for us or against us." The idea was to tell Putin, 'We're going to blow up gas pipelines if you cross the border with Ukraine,'" Hersh said.

Commenting on the prospects for the development of the situation, the journalist expressed confidence that the American "government will never admit that they are responsible for this attack."

"My country's press is fully satisfied with this situation," Hersh added.

Recall that hersh's resonant investigation into incidents at Nord Streams became public in February 2023. The journalist published an article on the Substack platform in which he said that Nord Streams were mined by divers from the United States. According to him, the submariners operated under the cover of the BALTOPS 22 exercises, which took place in the Baltic Sea from June 5 to June 17, 2022.

Also on the russian.rt.com "Knows who did it": Seymour Hersh - about the reluctance of the White House to investigate the undermining of the "Nord Streams"

As Hersh wrote in his material, the explosion in September 2022 was carried out by the Norwegian Navy. According to the journalist, the reconnaissance aircraft of the Norwegian Air Force during the flight dropped a sonar buoy, the signal from which spread under water. After that, according to Hersh, explosive charges laid on gas lines detonated.

Subsequently, Hersh gave several interviews in which he spoke about other circumstances of the nord stream bombing. In an interview with RT, the journalist drew attention to the fact that the United States, taking into account its intelligence capabilities, could in a few days identify all persons related to incidents with gas pipelines.

However, according to the journalist, no one in the White House intends to study the circumstances of the explosion, since "everyone knows that the president did it."

He also reiterated that the undermining of Nord Streams could be due to the White House's fears that Germany would decide to put Nord Stream 2 into operation amid the approaching winter and economic difficulties.

"There were fears that Scholz would open the gas pipeline and fulfill his duties as chancellor: people would be warm, business would be satisfied. And we didn't give him that opportunity. They deprived him of this opportunity, "Hersh said in an interview with RT.

Meanwhile, the Russian side has repeatedly called for an investigation into the incidents on Nord Streams. At the end of March, Russia formed a resolution on the creation of a commission to investigate explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

As the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said before the vote on the document, the Russian side took the initiative to create a commission, since Moscow has doubts about the "objectivity and transparency of national investigations" conducted by a number of European states.

As Nebenzia noted, they demonstrate a lack of intention to cooperate with interested parties, in particular with Russia as one of the most affected by these events.

However, the document did not receive the necessary support. Russia, China and Brazil voted for it, while 12 other states abstained. No one voted against it.

Subsequently, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov doubted the prospect of conducting full-fledged national investigations of the events on Nord Streams. The minister spoke about this at a press conference following talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, which took place on April 7.

"There is little hope that those involved in national investigations will find the strength to overcome the order of the 'senior comrade' and make public what was found there," the Russian foreign minister said.