Russia is the main suspect in the damage to the Nord Stream gas pipeline. Only Moscow was capable and interested in carrying out such a diversion. About it CNN told high-ranking US official and US military.
Russia has demanded a meeting of the UN Security Council on the damaged pipeline this week, which the source said is also suspicious. As a rule, the channel’s interlocutor said, Moscow is not organized enough to act so quickly.
On the one hand, the Russian authorities are effectively sabotaging their own pipelines. On the other hand, officials familiar with the latest intelligence say that Moscow would likely see such a move as a worthy price. Representatives of Western intelligence believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin is betting on that as electricity prices rise and winter approaches, Europe may oppose the country’s economic isolation strategy. The pipeline sabotage “shows what Russia is capable of,” the US official said.
Previously also reportedthat Russian warships and submarines were noticed in the area of the leak before the emergency at Nord Stream. No CNN source claims the ships had anything to do with the crashes, but that’s one of the details that investigators will look into.
Berlin is also inclined to believe that it was a targeted attack on gas pipelines. Back in the CIA summer warned German authorities about a possible sabotage on the Nord Stream.
The accident is being investigated Denmark and Sweden, who believe that the incident was likely the result of deliberate action. Governments are conducting an assessment that could take up to two weeks: pressure in the pipes makes it difficult to access the leak.
The accident on one of the lines of the Nord Stream 2 highway became known on the night of September 26 in the exclusive economic zone of Denmark southeast of Bornholm. Gas leaks were also recorded from both lines of the first Nord Stream.
The Kremlin does not know if Nord Stream 1 will be restarted after the accident. This was stated by the press secretary of the President of Russia Dmitry Peskov, calling this issue “technical”. He did not unequivocally call the state of emergency a terrorist attack. The Russian Foreign Ministry, in turn, said that the situation with gas pipelines is beneficial to Washington and urged The United States “explain and confess” its involvement in the emergency.
“Now the United States, through the mouth of a Pentagon representative, has already stated that they have nothing to do with the incident. But, we know how they can do it,” said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.