Last week, Pulitzer Prize-winning US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a report saying that US Navy divers during NATO Baltops exercises in the summer of 2022 had planted explosives to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines, which Norway activated three months later. The report added that US President Joe Biden had decided to sabotage the Nord Streams after more than nine months of secret discussions with the national security team.
"Any suggestion of that kind [the US staying behind the blasts] is preposterous," Smith told Bloomberg, while also calling for the continuation of the probe to establish those responsible.
Moscow Slams Nordics for Sweeping Nord Stream Blast Under Carpet as Hersh Warns of Dire Costs for US
15 February 2023, 18:56 GMT
On September 26, 2022, the blasts occurred at three of the four strings of Nord Stream 1 and 2 underwater pipelines built to carry a combined 110 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to Europe annually. The incidents halted gas deliveries to Germany ahead of the cold season, prompting a gas price hike and a scramble for alternative sources in the European Union.