Pulitzer Prize-winning US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh wrote in a blog post in February, citing a source familiar with the operational planning, that US Navy divers laid the bombs under the pipelines in the summer and exploded them remotely at the order of US President Joe Biden.
"Even before the theory put forward by Hersh, who is a very reputable journalist, it was obvious that the Americans were behind the bombing," Philippot said. "Even before the war in Ukraine, the US had been fighting the Nord Stream pipelines for years, it had become a permanent element of their policy."
"Moreover, in early February 2022, Biden publicly said that the Americans were capable of making the pipeline go away. And it happened. After all, it was in the interests of America."
The question remains whether Washington did it alone or together with Norway, the politician said.
"And there is nothing absurd about this because Norway is Russia's gas competitor, and Russian gas has been replaced by Norwegian gas in many countries. So they also had their own interests and enriched themselves at this expense," Philippot explained.
The Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, built to deliver gas under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, have been out of action since they were hit by explosions last September. Nord Stream's operator, Nord Stream AG, said the damage was unprecedented, and it was impossible to estimate the time repairs might take.