A pro-Ukrainian group may be behind the acts of sabotage against the Russian Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, which took place last September, The New York Times (NYT) reported on Tuesday, citing US officials who had access to intelligence service reports.
“New intelligence data reviewed by US officials suggests that a pro-Ukrainian group carried out the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines last year,” the newspaper said, stressing that according to these officials there is no evidence that President Volodimir Zelensky, or his closest collaborators have been involved in the operation.
These same sources clarified to the New York newspaper that much remains to be known about those responsible and their affiliation, although the new information compiled by intelligence agencies suggested that they were against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
However, the identity of the members of the group or who ordered or paid for the operation is unknown, stresses the New York Times, which also emphasized that said official insisted that there are no firm conclusions on the matter“leaving open the possibility that the operation could have been carried out unofficially by a proxy force with connections to the Ukrainian government or its security services.”
The officials also commented that they believed the saboteurs were Ukrainian or Russian, or a mixed team of both nationalities, and ruled out that American or British nationals were involved.
At the time of the sabotage, Moscow accused “Anglo-Saxon” countries of being behind it, alluding to the opposition to the project that the US has maintained for years, because it supposedly generates European dependence on Russian gas, while some Western countries pointed in the direction contrary.
The attacks against the gas pipelines, which were not in servicecaused two leaks in each of them, two in the Danish area and two in the Swedish area, all in international waters.
The three main leaks were terminated at the beginning of October, when stable pressure was reached in the pipes, but the smallest one remained active for a few more days.