Above photo: The wasp-class amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge operating in the Baltic Sea on September 3, 2022. AP.
According to Politiken, US warships were operating in the region with their transponders turned off.
Prior to the explosions that destroyed the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea, US Navy ships were present at the location, according to a local harbormaster quoted in the Danish newspaper Politiken.
The Nord Stream 2 pipelines, a major infrastructure project aimed at delivering natural gas from Russia to Europe, were targeted in an act of sabotage in September 2022, with Moscow pointing fingers at the West or Ukraine.
In August, The Wall Street Journal reported that Ukrainian businessmen had funded the attack on the project, although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had ordered to halt the attack at the CIA’s request.
Russia, however, insisted that the reports shared by WSJ were a mere tactic to divert attention from the actual perpetrators, saying its findings were improbable. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov affirmed that Russian Intelligence is certain that major states were involved in the sabotage.
Despite being published on September 26, Politiken’s article received little attention. But on Tuesday, it reappeared on X when Glenn Greenwald and other well-known independent journalists repeated the claims.
According to the story, American warships were operating in the region east of the Danish island of Bornholm with their transponders turned off.
The article included statements from John Anker Nielsen, the harbormaster of the Danish port of Christianso, which lies near Bornholm. He stated that he had opted to publish information on the September 2022 events, despite originally being “not allowed to say a thing” about them.
According to Nielsen, he initiated a rescue mission in the region four or five days before the Nord Stream blasts after noticing ships with their transponders turned off and presuming an emergency.
However, once Danish rescuers neared the site, they discovered that the warships in issue were US Navy ships, according to Nielsen. According to the harbormaster, the Naval Command then instructed Nielsen and his colleagues to turn back.
Russia says Nord Stream investigators misleading probe, US deflects
Russian Ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, stated on Friday that those responsible for sabotaging the Nord Stream pipelines may be attempting to mislead investigators to conceal their involvement.
During a UN Security Council meeting, he stated, “There is another explanation as to why, of late, we’ve seen more and more far-fetched versions of what happened, and that’s simply that those who ordered and executed this crime are trying to cover their tracks and to point the investigation in the wrong direction.”
Nebenzia also remarked that until the investigations are complete, these parties may continue to hinder the UN Security Council’s efforts to take action.
He further urged the resumption of investigations to keep the world free from energy threats, saying, “If we want this infrastructure to be free from danger, the terrorist attack targeting the Nord Stream pipeline should be investigated.”
However, a US diplomat was quick to claim that no evidence exists to prove the United States’ involvement in the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage.
“There is no shred of evidence of US involvement and there never will be, because the United States was not involved.”
He further deflected from the topic, saying it was not an urgent matter for the council.