US officials have seen new intelligence that indicates a “pro-Ukrainian group” was responsible for the sabotage last year of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, the New York Times reported Tuesday.
In a cautious report that did not identify the source of the intelligence or the group involved, the Times said the US officials had no evidence implicating Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky in the pipeline bombing.
But the attack benefitted Ukraine by severely damaging Russia’s means of reaping millions by selling natural gas to Western Europe.
At the same time, it added to the pressure of high energy prices on key Ukrainian allies in Western Europe, particularly Germany.
The intelligence suggested the perpetrators behind the sabotage were “opponents of President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia,” the Times report said.
But the US officials had no indication of who exactly took part and who organized and paid for the operation, which would have required skilled divers and explosives experts.
They believed those involved were probably Ukrainian or Russian nationals, and that none were from the United States or Britain.
US officials have “no firm conclusions” about the intelligence, “leaving open the possibility that the operation might have been conducted off the books by a proxy force with connections to the Ukrainian government or its security services,” the Times.
The pipelines were ruptured by subsea explosives on September 26, seven months after Russian forces invaded Ukraine.
Several countries were said at the time to have motives for the action: Russia, Germany, Ukraine, Poland, Britain and the United States.
In February, veteran US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reported that the United States was behind the operation to bomb the Nord Stream pipelines and that Norway assisted.
The White House blasted Hersh’s report, which cited an unnamed source, as “complete fiction.”
