“The US has known since June 2022 of a Ukrainian plan to sabotage the Nord Stream gas pipeline”: the revelation of the Washington Post

New, heavy, revelations about the sabotage of pipeline submarine Nord Stream, occurred last September with the use of explosives. The US newspaper Washington Post writes that three months before that the operation took place, the Biden administration had known from intelligence services of an allied country that the Ukrainian military was preparing a covert attack on the infrastructure using a small squad of divers which referred directly to the Commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Details about the operation were collected by the European intelligence service and shared with the Cia In the June 2022 and provide detailed evidence linking Kiev to the sabotage. The intelligence report was posted on the chat platform Discordpresumably by member of the Air National Guard Jack Teixeiraarrested in recent weeks. The Washington Post obtained a copy from one of Teixeira’s online contacts. The documents viewed by the newspaper also reveal series concerns on the possible developments of the conflict and on Kiev’s real ability to conduct a successful counter-offensive against Russian forces.

Coming back to the sabotage, the details in the files include the number of agents eh attack methods and they show that the allies have had elements for nearly a year to suspect Kiev. However, this track has only strengthened in recent weeks, after the German investigators have discovered some clues about the attack that lead back to theUkraine. Officials from multiple countries have confirmed that the intelligence summary posted on Discord reconstructs with precision what the European intelligence service had communicated to the CIA. The Washington Post agreed to withhold the name of the European country and some aspects of the plan at the request of government officials, who said exposing the information would threaten sources and operations. Ukrainian officials, who previously had denied that the country was involved in the attack at Nord Stream, they did not respond to requests for comment. Silence also by the White House.

It was initially assumed a role of Moscow. Although the pipeline was built by Germania e Russia, and is managed Gazprom, its sabotage would have increased insecurity about European energy supplies, further pushing up gas and oil prices. Last February the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh however, he had released a reconstruction, citing an anonymous source, which revealed an involvement of Cia e White House in the operation. The journalist has come under attack over an alleged lack of professionalism from several Italian commentators. The pipeline Nord Stream 1 has a carrying capacity of 55 billion cubic meters of gas per year and runs under the Baltic Sea from the Russian coast to the German one. At the end of 2021, the controversial was completed doubling of the pipeline which, however, due to the war in Ukraine, never came into operation. The project was openly opposed by the United States as a factor of further rapprochement between Moscow and Berlin.