NEW YORK, March 7. /TASS/. US President Joe Biden did not authorize the Nord Stream gas pipeline sabotage, the New York Times reported Tuesday citing its sources, stating that a pro-Ukrainian group was involved in the incident instead.
According to the report, US officials claim that "Biden and his top aides did not authorize a mission to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines, and they say there was no US involvement."
On September 27 last year, Nord Stream AG reported "unprecedented damage" that took place on three lines of Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines. Swedish seismologists registered two explosions that occurred on September 26 near the pipeline route. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office initiated a criminal case over charges of international terrorism.
On February 8, US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published an article, which said, citing sources, that US Navy divers had planted explosive devices under the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines under the cover of the BALTOPS exercise in June 2022, and Norwegians activated the bombs three months later. According to the journalist, the decision to conduct the operation was made by US President Joe Biden personally, following nine months of discussions with White House security specialists. White House National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a comment to TASS that Hersh’s account was "utterly false and complete fiction.".