Former Virginia State Senator Richard Black told Sputnik that the United States is the only country that could have blown up the Nord Stream pipelines last year, as he commented on the latest report by the New York Times.
“The day after the blasts, I commented publicly that the U.S. was the only nation that could have carried this out,” Black said when asked to comment on the report. “Even a child could see it wasn't Russia and no NATO country would dare act without U.S. approval, since the U.S. leads and dominates NATO.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the New York Times reported that US officials said intelligence indicated a pro-Ukrainian group was behind the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines last year. The saboteurs were most likely Ukrainian or Russian nationals, the report also said, adding that no US or UK nationals were involved.
The New York Times' report comes on the heels of a report by Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh detailing the US’s alleged involvement in the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines, which provided a substantial amount of gas to Germany.
“There's no question Seymour's article is accurate,” Black said. “Seymour Hersh is the most respected investigative journalist on international affairs. I don't agree with him on everything, but his investigative reports are thorough and objective.”
The Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, built to deliver gas under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, have been inoperable since they were hit by explosions last September. Nord Stream's operator, Nord Stream AG, said that the damage was unprecedented and it was impossible to estimate the time repairs might take.
Russia considers the explosions of the two pipelines an act of international terrorism. There are no official results of the investigation yet, but Hersh wrote that the explosions were organized by the United States with the support of Norway. Following Hersh's report, Moscow has reiterated its calls for an impartial and thorough investigation. The US denies its involvement in the incident.
Western leaders, not pro-Ukrainian group responsible for Nord Stream explosions — expert
Representative of the Schiller Institute at the United Nations in New York Richard Black claims that The New York Times' article contains no news or evidence
"The New York Times' article reveals that the US intelligence agencies that direct to the article have hysterical reaction to the wide circulation of the article by Seymour Hersh. It has been backed up by many independent military experts around the globe. The wide circulation of Hersh`s article is echoing within the context of a rejection by the population, in Europe for instance, of the credibility of the governments," he said.
The expert claims that the newspaper article contains no news or evidence. "The content of the New York Times' article is not there. There is no news, no evidence. All they talked about is officials who they don’t name. What was the investigation? Where is the evidence, what did they find? It’s nothing," he added.
"It’s an international scandal that president Joe Biden said the intention to destroy of the pipeline at the beginning of the 2022. Chancellor Scholtz was at his side when it was done. This article is a very flimsy cover up of the fact of global leaders’ responsibility for this act of gross terrorism, which is throwing the population of western Europe into tremendous misery and impoverishment," he added.
The New York Times reported earlier, citing anonymous sources, that US intelligence has so far been unable to identify the mastermind of last September's sabotage attacks that targeted the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, which transported natural gas from Russia to Europe. The anonymous officials interviewed by the newspaper said there had been no firm conclusions about those responsible, thus leaving open "the possibility that the operation might have been conducted off the books by a proxy force with connections to the Ukrainian government or its security services."
Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh on February 8 published an article where he said, citing a source, that explosives under the Russian Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were planted by US Navy divers, helped by Norwegian specialists, under the guise of the Baltops exercise in June. The story stated that the CIA and Burns took part in the preparation of the operation, and US president Joe Biden personally authorized the operation after nine months of deliberations with the administration’s national security staff
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. On September 26, 2022, Swedish seismologists registered two explosions on the pipeline routes. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office launched a criminal case based on charges of international terrorism
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