The US was informed that Ukraine’s military was plotting to blow up the Nord Stream pipelines months before mysterious explosions destroyed Russia’s conduit for gas sales to Europe, according to The Washington Post.
The information, cited in a leaked US intelligence report, came from a friendly European nation’s intelligence services, the Post reported while declining to name the country.
The detailed intelligence, which the US received three months before the explosions, matches some pieces of evidence unearthed by the inconclusive probes into the assault on Europe’s energy infrastructure.
The Post cited an intelligence document leaked by US Air National Guard member Jack Texeira on the Discord social media platform. The US National Security Council and the CIA declined to comment. Ukrainian officials have long denied any involvement in an attack on the pipeline.
The late-September underwater explosions left only three of four pipes intact, largely severing Russia’s gas infrastructure to Europe.
The ensuing finger-pointing and inconclusive investigations has birthed several conspiracy theories, with reports alternately blaming Russia, the US and Ukrainian saboteurs.
Despite the European intelligence, the US had initially appeared to blame Russia for destroying its own expensive pipeline as a means to apply pressure on Europe ahead of winter. At the time of the explosions, Russia had already shut off Nord Stream 1 in response to sanctions, and Nord Stream 2 had yet to begin operations.
Evidence has emerged that supports this initial theory. Covert Russian naval manoeuvres have been uncovered in the Baltic near the site of the explosions; a Russian naval vessel carrying a small submersible was photographed in the area by the Danish navy.
German investigators have been looking into an alternative theory. In January, they searched a yacht called the Andromeda that was hired in Rostock, a German port town, in September 2022 and may have participated in the attack. Explosive residue was found in the yacht cabin. German investigators and journalists have linked one individual involved in hiring the yacht to the Ukrainian military.
The details from their investigation are similar in some regards to those cited by the Post, which relate a plan to hire a boat in Germany. The intelligence report cited the intention to use a submersible vehicle, however, a method not previously associated with the Andromeda.
According to the Post, the details of the plot were withheld from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy in order to allow the president deny knowledge of an incident with serious international repercussions.
Nord Stream was a joint investment between Russia’s Gazprom, which held a 51 per cent stake, while European partners invested billions despite Washington’s resistance to the project.
The intelligence brief appears to have been based off a single source in the Ukrainian government, raising doubts in the US intelligence community. Despite the reservations, the European intelligence service shared its findings with the German government, who briefed lawmakers months before the explosions.
Additional reporting by Felicia Schwartz and James Politi in Washington
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