Who sabotaged the Nord Stream pipeline? Russia and the West blame each other
Source: Danish Defence / The image features the gas leak from the Nord Stream pipeline explosion.
The Nordics correspondent Jeroen Visser from de Volkskrant interviewed Risk Intelligence’s CEO Hans Tino Hansen on the Nordic Stream pipeline attack and Russia's demand for an independent probe into the incident.
22 February 2023
Six months after the Nord Stream pipeline explosion, Russia is demanding an impartial UN investigation. The clarification for this is the release of an article by an American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh who blames the United States government rather than Moscow for the incident. It is believed that the US allegedly sabotaged the Nord Stream pipeline due to Russia's growing influence in Western Europe.
During the interview with de Volkskrant, CEO Hans Tino Hansen expressed his thoughts on the current situation stating that he doesn’t consider Hersh’s publication seriously. Further he added: “It falls short of basic standards for reliable reporting and it doesn’t contain an ounce of evidence.”
In the article, Jeroen Visser highlighted that last November, Sweden’s public prosecutor revealed the discovery of explosive residue in close proximity of the damaged sections of the pipeline, which could be proof of intentional sabotage. In Hansen’s opinion, it’s unlikely that the investigators will find any proof that identifies the perpetrator. Moreover, he said: “The whole idea of such a clandestine operation is that you leave no evidence.”
Furthermore, Hansen believes Russia is ‘very likely’ to be behind the attack, while mentioning that Moscow would have tried to demonstrate that it is capable of damaging critical infrastructure at any time without being held accountable. Additionally, he claims to have seen intelligence that leads to Russian involvement, while adding “But that’s not something they can use in court.”
Read the article in full here.
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