The United States’ Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) allegedly told Belgian secret services that the explosions that destroyed the Nord Stream pipelines were the work of Ukrainian saboteurs.
Nord Stream is a network of pipelines that run under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany to provide Western Europe with natural gas.
Belgian newspaper De Tijd has reported that shortly after the destruction of the pipelines last September, Belgian intelligence received information from the CIA that pointed towards the Ukrainians.
The sabotage was initially assumed by Western media to have been perpetrated by the Russians. However, other observers said Ukraine seemed a more plausible suspect, given it damaged the Russian economy and forced the rest of Europe to move away from Russian energy.
Now, an increasing number of international media outlets suggest the Ukrainians were responsible for the blasts that not only cut off Russian energy to Europe but also caused an environmental catastrophe.
According to De Tijd, several intelligence agencies, including Belgium’s military intelligence service ADIV-SGRS, were informed by the CIA that Ukraine was likely behind the incident.
The recent disclosure by De Tijd follows reports in The Washington Post on June 6 that three months prior to the explosions, US President Joe Biden’s administration became aware of the Ukrainian military’s alleged covert intentions to launch an assault on the pipeline system. Furthermore, it was claimed that divers apparently involved in the operation were directly answerable to Valerii Zaluzhny, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
It was also claimed that Ukraine President, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who appointed Zaluzhny in 2021, was deliberately excluded from knowing about plans.
The Wall Street Journal reported on June 10 that German investigators are examining data that seems to suggest a sabotage team used Poland as an operating base to launch the Nord Stream attacks.
Those claims appeared on the internet chat platform Discord, apparently posted by a US Air National Guard member called Jack Teixeira. The 21-year-old is under investigation by US authorities for allegedly leaking dozens of files online, including sensitive documents about US allies and military operations abroad. He remains in custody awaiting trial.
Belgian Defence Minister, Ludivine Dedonder, refused to comment on the matter, with her spokesman saying she would not communicate on the work of the Belgian intelligence service.
Germany, Sweden and Denmark are still investigating the pipeline sabotage while the US White House is awaiting the results of its own probe.
German media have reported on claims that Ukrainians rented a boat in Poland and equipped themselves in the German city of Rostock, reinforcing suspicions the explosions were orchestrated by Ukrainian forces.
According to German media, however, intelligence circles are cautious and do not rule out the possibility that stories implicating Ukraine may be part of a ‘false flag’ operation run by unidentified parties with the intention of framing the country. There is no concrete evidence to support this hypothesis as yet.
The German, Swedish, and Danish authorities are making no comment on the progress of their investigations.
