The Flightradar24 flight archive has no data on the Norwegian aircraft that may have dropped the buoy, as it apparently flew with the turned-off transponder. However, according to the resource, a US P-8A Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft arrived in the area of the incident exactly one hour after the explosion.
According to the source, the US plane flew from the Atlantic to Bornholm Island after passing over Denmark. Then, the aircraft refueled over Poland from the KS-135R refueling plane.
After the refueling, the US aircraft returned to Bornholm and, at about 04:45 Summer European Time (02:45 GMT), made a full circle exactly over the explosion area and started to descend. Turning to the right and moving away from the scene, the plane gradually descended from an altitude of 7,300 meters to 2,200 meters and then disappeared from the radar after switching off the transponder.
Igor Korotchenko, the head of the Centre for Analysis of World Arms Trade, has told Sputnik that the flight path of the aircraft on Flightradar24 supports the investigation of Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh on the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipelines.
"Taking into account that the route of American P-8A Poseidon was calculated with refueling over Poland and it was necessary to synchronize all these moments, we can say that its arrival at the given time — immediately after the attack — indicates the scheduled flight and, therefore, is another confirmation of the version put forward by American journalist Hersh of the reasons and circumstances of the attack," Korotchenko said.
"This once again proves the involvement of official US government agencies in this sabotage."
He added that the aircraft recorded the release of gas from the destroyed pipelines and monitored the area for the presence of ships and submarines that could theoretically be there and witness what had happened.
9 February 2023, 16:53 GMT
On Wednesday, Hersh wrote an investigative piece describing in detail how US deep-water divers planted explosives under three of Russia's four Nord Stream pipelines. Hersh wrote, based on insider information from sources in the know, that the US detonated the explosives remotely on September 26, 2022, on the order of President Joe Biden.
Hersh reported that the explosives were planted during a NATO Baltic Sea exercise last summer and cited a source with direct knowledge of the US operational planning as saying that Norway played a key role in helping the United States organize the attack and keep the Swedish and Danish navies in the dark.