The United States and NATO are trying to dodge any responsibility for the Nord Stream sabotage by accusing a Ukrainian colonel of coordinating the attack on the pipelines, said Russia’s State Duma lawmaker Alexey Chepa.
“This is an attempt, several moves ahead, to dismiss any trace of culpability for this terrorist act. Of course, Ukrainian services, obviously intelligence, were involved... But it would have been impossible to pull this [attack] off without American and NATO forces’ involvement,” said Chepa.
Ukrainian colonel Roman Chervinsky was the alleged coordinator of the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines, The Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing Ukrainian and European officials, as well as other people familiar with details of the operation. The newspaper called Chervinsky a senior Ukrainian military officer with close ties to the country's intelligence. The outlet claimed that the man allegedly played a key "coordinating" role in the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year. It was also added that Chervinsky did not act alone.
Furthermore, the Ukrainian officer received orders from more senior officials, who reported to Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny, the newspaper wrote, citing people familiar with how the attack was carried out.
“This is some kind of 'greetings' to Zaluzhny, and judging by who can convey such 'greetings', I suspect that these are some guys from Zelensky’s office who ordered an article in the Washington Post,” Director of the International Institute of Newest States Alexey Martynov told Sputnik. According to him, the level of planning and execution of the terrorist attack indicates that the explosion was organized by “more than one intelligence agency.”
Maria Butina, Member of the State Duma Committee on International Affairs, voiced the opinion that the American authorities miscalculated the fallout from the publication in the Washington Post.
“One thing is curious: when the American authorities commissioned this story in a bid to deflect the blame, and clear themselves of any suspicion, did they really want to say all this? They tried their best, but you know the rest,” Butina wrote on Telegram.
Butina speculated that it would be logical in this case for European authorities to block the WaPo, with the Kiev regime cut off from any further assistance from Europe.
11 November 2023, 18:50 GMT
The Nord Stream pipelines, built to deliver gas under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, were hit by explosions on September 26, 2022. At the time, the pipeline's operator, Nord Stream AG, said that the damage was unprecedented and it was impossible to estimate the time repairs might take. Denmark, Germany and Norway have left Russia out of their investigations into the attack, prompting Moscow to launch its own investigation with charges of international terrorism.
No official results of the investigations have yet been announced, however Pulitzer Prize-winning US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a report in February 2023 alleging that the explosions were organized by the United States with the support of Norway. Washington has denied any involvement in the incident.