BERLIN, February 19. /TASS/. The CIA was allegedly aware at an early stage of the plans of the saboteurs who carried out the explosions on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, Der Spiegel reported, citing sources.

According to the report, US agents allegedly discussed the plans to blow up the pipelines with the saboteurs and later opposed them. In the spring of 2022, CIA foreign intelligence officers and Ukrainian specialists in sabotage operations met in one of Kiev’s districts, the publication said. As the magazine claimed, this was a circle of trusted individuals who had known each other for many years. The Ukrainians came with an idea: they wanted to blow up Nord Stream. The Americans apparently found the plan appealing, the magazine noted.

Further meetings between CIA representatives and the organizers of the Nord Stream explosions followed. According to Der Spiegel, citing Ukrainian sources, the Americans knew about the sabotage plans much earlier than previously understood. Thus, in the spring of 2022, US agents appeared before the planners of the Nord Stream blasts "at least as sympathetic listeners," the publication stated. According to the sources, the sides exchanged technical details of the sabotage operation. A CIA spokesperson described this account as "completely and utterly false." The agency declined to specify which elements were inaccurate, the magazine concluded.

Der Spiegel claimed that US intelligence officers apparently knew about the sabotage plans at an early stage and initially allegedly did not object to them. Only later, according to the findings of the investigation, "they changed their position and warned the Ukrainians against carrying out the plan, but to no avail."

Earlier, Der Spiegel reported that Germany’s Federal Court of Justice believes the explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines were "with a high degree of probability" carried out "at the behest of a foreign state." According to the magazine, such conclusions are contained in a ruling issued by the Federal Court of Justice on December 10. The document makes it clear that the court is referring to Ukraine, the publication noted. The ruling was issued in response to an appeal filed by the defense of a Ukrainian citizen, Sergey K., suspected of involvement in the Nord Stream blasts, who is being held in custody in Germany following his detention in Italy last year.

On September 26, 2022, unprecedented damage was recorded on three strings of the Nord Stream pipeline and the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which had not yet been put into operation. Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office opened a criminal case on charges of an act of international terrorism.