STOCKHOLM, March 12 (Xinhua) — A Swedish expert refuted the claim by American and German media that a non-state actor was responsible for the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions last September.
On Tuesday, the New York Times cited new intelligence indicating that a pro-Ukrainian group carried out the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines. However, the paper was unable to identify a source for the claim that a chartered yacht was used to carry out the deed.
“How stupid do they think we are? What was a small pro-Ukrainian group doing in a yacht?” asked Jan Oberg, head of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, in a new opinion piece on his personal portal.
“Western ‘intelligence’ and the New York Times (are) in deeper water than usual, offering us a sly spin and a false story,” Oberg said, adding that he did not “hesitate to call (the claimed theory) bogus and invention and completely simply so stupid, improbable and improbable.”
He said the “orchestrated mainstream Western media” that has kept quiet about Seymour Hersh’s previous analysis but now widely reported on the apparently “false” theory exposed “their journalistic and moral decay.”
In an article published in February on the American portal Substack, investigative reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh revealed that the United States cooperated with Norway in a top-secret operation in June 2022 to plant remote-triggered explosives that took out three of the four Nord Stream pipelines three months later .
Compared to Hersh’s detailed and compelling disclosure, Oberg dismissed the latest theory as “a made-up story that comes with far less documentation, analysis and credibility than Hersh’s.”
Oberg called Hersh “truly independent, highly qualified and well connected” and strongly insisted that sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines “was done by the United States with some help from Norway and maybe others.”
Referring to comments by US President Joe Biden earlier “that the US would blow it up”, Oberg said an “interest analysis” would also lead to a clear conclusion of US criminality.
“Who could have an interest in destroying this hugely important piece of energy infrastructure that also connected Europe to Russia? And who would have the technical and other capabilities to do it?” Oberg asked.
The Nord Stream pipelines, which carried natural gas from Russia to European markets via Germany, were severely damaged last September after explosions in the Baltic Sea. One pipeline, Nord Stream 1, was in operation at the time of the explosion and Nord Stream 2, although it had not been in operation, was filled with gas.
Source: sn.dk