The USA should be held accountable for explosion of the Nord Stream pipelines

- It is widely known that on September 27, 2022, 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 in the Baltic Sea. On September 26, Swedish seismologists registered two explosions on the pipeline routes.

According to the article published on February 8 (Seymour Hersh’s investigation entitled “How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline”), US explosives were planted under the Russian Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines by US Navy divers under the guise of the regular BALTOPS 22 NATO Naval exercise that took place last June in the Baltic Sea.

The story cited an unidentified source with direct knowledge of the operational planning as saying that US President Joe Biden personally authorized the operation.

- Russia may take legal or political measures in connection with recent findings on the US Nord Stream pipeline blasts, published by US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, a senior Russian diplomat said. "This issue is constantly in our focus, and we will not leave this story unanswered. Political measures may be taken, as well as legal ones," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told reporters on February 9. He added that Russia would continue to press for access to the investigation.

"The pipes were Russian, and we are obviously the affected party, so we will press for access to the investigation. We will use all instruments at our disposal to uncover the truth," the diplomat said.

The same day Grushko criticized Europe’s response to the blasts and its investigation into the matter. "The political stance, taken by Europe with regard to these affairs, exposes political impotence and reluctance to defend Europe’s deeply rooted, core interests, the interests that Europe has as Europe, not as a US satellite," he said.

"The West bashfully sweeps under the rug the fact that their strategic document amount an attack on critical infrastructure to an armed assault, including in the sense stipulated by [NATO’s Washington Treaty] Article 5," he added. "And when an attack on critical infrastructure, on a pillar of Europe’s longstanding economic prosperity has occurred, Europe just swallowed it in silence: no one said anything, they refused to investigate it or let us participate in investigation," Grushko stressed.

- Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said earlier that "there will be consequences, despite Washington’s numerous refutations" to have a direct involvement into the act of aggression in the Baltic Sea.

- Russia is not surprised by the findings of US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh that Norway was involved in the explosions at the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on February10. "We have analyzed the American journalist’s publication about the explosions at Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2… We are not surprised by the conclusions of the American journalist of Oslo's involvement in these acts of sabotage," a diplomat said, adding that Norway obeys the United States and the European Union in its foreign policy.

"We insist that only a comprehensive and open investigation involving relevant Russian agencies and the Gazprom company will be able to yield reliable and objective data on the causes, perpetrators and contractors of these acts of sabotage," she stressed.

- The Russian Prosecutor General's Office launched a criminal case based on charges of international terrorism.

The journalist said he had turned down several invitations to speak before the US Congress in the past few years. In his words, he received several calls from the US Congress after publishing his article about the Nord Stream attack. "I've already had senators call me up and I say to them, I can't help you it’s your problem, not mine," Hersh said.

- Washington should be held accountable if the Nord Stream gas pipeline blasts were the work of the United States, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on February 9. "If an investigation confirms [these] facts, it’s impossible to just tolerate it. Such actions should bring about liability," she said at a briefing, commenting on the findings of US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.  The Chinese diplomat specified that Washington was proven guilty and the US "will have to provide responsible clarifications to the world."

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