Putin Agrees That US Special Services Involved in Nord Stream Explosions

The President of Russia commented on the results of an investigation into gas pipeline explosions by American journalist Seymour Hersh

Russia's President Vladimir Putin Mikhail Metzel/POOL/TASS

MOSCOW, March 25. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin agrees with the conclusions drawn by American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh that US special services were involved in the Nord Stream pipeline explosions.

"The American journalist, who has become rather famous now worldwide, carried out such an investigation and as we know, drew a conclusion that blast on the gas pipelines was organized by the US special services. I fully agree with such conclusions," Putin said.

Putin is confident that the truth about the explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines will eventually be uncovered.

"I believe that it will be hard to attain this (the truth about the Nord Stream incident - TASS), but someday it will probably come out for sure what was done and how," Putin said.

On September 27, 2022, Nord Stream AG reported "unprecedented damage," which had been inflicted on three lines of the Nord Stream pipelines the previous day. Swedish seismologists recorded two explosions along the Nord Stream pipelines on September 26, 2022. On November 18, 2022, the Swedish Prosecutor’s Office said that the blasts along the pipelines were an act of sabotage. The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office opened a criminal case on charges of international terrorism.

Hersh said in his article published on February 8 that explosives were planted under the Russian Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines by US Navy divers with assistance from Norwegian specialists under the guise of the BALTOPS 22 exercise last June. The story cited an unidentified source as saying that US President Joe Biden personally authorized the operation after nine months of discussions with administration officials in charge of security matters.