Four days before the explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, a Danish warship, along with a Swedish patrol corvette and a reconnaissance aircraft, were seen in the area of ​​their damage. On this subject writing The Times, citing “Danish studies”.
The Danish patrol boat, which was monitoring the activity of Russian ships, suddenly deviated from its usual route – in particular, it rounded the island of Bornholm for the first time in several years, the newspaper notes. Then it stood still for half an hour, turned off the transponders and disappeared from radar.
Not far from where the Danish ship stopped, a Swedish reconnaissance aircraft was sighted minutes after it appeared. Additionally, a Swedish patrol corvette later arrived in the same area, reports The Times.
On the morning of March 24, the Danish Energy Agency reported that an unknown cylindrical object about 40 cm high and about 10 cm in diameter was found near the site of damage to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. .
“It is possible that the object is a marine smoke buoy. This will be investigated further,” the agency said in a statement.
As the discovery did not pose a threat, it was decided to bring it to the surface with the participation of the gas pipeline operator Nord Stream 2 AG.
Explosions at Nord Stream
On September 26, 2022, three of the four strings of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines were damaged by explosions. NATO called it was the result of sabotage, and Russian President Vladimir Putin said the explosion was staged by the “Anglo-Saxons”. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin also referred to the West’s responsibility for the pipeline explosion.
On February 8, 2023, American journalist Seymour Hersh published an article titled “How America Destroyed the Nord Stream Pipeline”. In it, he, citing a source “directly familiar with operational planning”, said the United States had planned and carried out the undermining of the gas pipelines with the help of Norwegian authorities and the navy. According to Hersh, the operation was developed even before the start of the Russian military operation in Ukraine.
On March 1, 2023, The New York Times wrote that according to US intelligence, Nord Stream could have been destroyed by a “pro-Ukrainian group” not associated with official Kiev.
On the same day, the German newspaper Die Zeit said that a vessel rented in Poland by a company owned by two Ukrainians had been used to undermine gas pipelines. Hersh claims that this version was invented by the CIA and the German secret service.
On March 22, Seymour Hersh wrote another article in which, quoting a source allegedly “with access to diplomatic information”, he claimed that the CIA and German intelligence services were responsible for coming up with an alternative version of the causes of the explosions on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream gas pipelines. – 2″ to conceal the fact that US President Joe Biden ordered the attack. The relevant instructions were reportedly received by the two countries’ special services following German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s visit to Washington in early March.
According to the journalist, after Scholz’s meeting with Biden, German and American intelligence services provided New York Times and Die Zeit reporters with “false captions” to refute reports of Washington’s responsibility for the explosion of the attacks. gas pipelines.
