WASHINGTON, February 8. /TASS/. US Navy divers, under the cover of the Baltops exercise, planted explosive devices beneath Russia’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline last June, US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said in an article published on Wednesday.

According to him, the decision on the operation was made personally by US President Joe Biden after nine months of discussions with administration officials dealing with national security: US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland, and others.

The journalist says that the US Navy suggested using a submarine to blow up the gas pipeline, and the US Air Force considered dropping a bomb with a remote detonator from an airplane. The main issue under discussion was not whether to carry out the operation in principle, but how to go about it without leaving evidence, Hersh wrote, citing an unnamed source with direct knowledge of the operation’s planning.

When responding to the journalist's inquiry, White House and CIA officials categorically denied this information.