Kremlin says US did not contact Russia after Hersh’s article on Nord Stream
Dmitry Peskov also stressed that so far Moscow hadn't recieved any additional information on the incident from Washington
MOSCOW, February 9. /TASS/. Washington did not contact Moscow to attempt to clarify and discuss the situation after the article by the American journalist Seymour Hersh stating that the US was behind Nord Stream blasts was published, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.
"No," he said when asked a relevant question.
Speaking about whether Moscow plans to make inquiries to Washington itself, Peskov said: "As of today, Russia has already tried very hard in recent months to get an opportunity to participate in the investigation and get at least some additional information." "Unfortunately, our attempts were rejected. We never received access to any information," the spokesman stated.
"But obviously, our appropriate agencies still have this issue on the agenda," he added.
According to the article published on Wednesday, explosives were planted under the Russian Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines by US Navy divers under the guise of the Baltops exercise last June. The story cited an unidentified source with direct knowledge of the operational planning as saying that US president Joe Biden personally authorized the operation. Adrienne Watson, a spokesperson for the National Security Council at the White House, responded to a request for comment from TASS that the story laid out by Hersh was totally false and complete fiction.
On September 27 last year, Nord Stream AG reported unprecedented damage that occurred the day before on three strings of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 offshore gas pipelines. On September 26, Swedish seismologists registered two explosions on pipeline routes. Russia’s Prosecutor General's Office launched criminal proceedings over an act of international terrorism.