WASHINGTON, Mar 28 US President Joe Biden is confident that three investigations ongoing in Europe are enough to understand the reasons for the undermining of the Russian gas transmission system Nord Stream, said John Kirby, strategic communications coordinator at the National Security Council.
During the briefing, he was asked to explain why the United States did not support the initiative of the international investigations, and asked if Biden plans to entrust the case of underwater explosions to his own intelligence.
«As you know, there are three independent independent investigations that are being conducted by three European countries. President Biden has every reason to believe that they will as thorough as possible,» Kirby replied.
«We will wait until they are completed and look at the results,» he added.
The White House rejects accusations by eminent investigative journalist Seymour Hersh that Biden was involved in undermining Nord Stream together with the Norwegian authorities.
Explosions occurred on September 26, 2022, on two Russian export gas pipelines to Europe at once — Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2. Germany, Denmark and Sweden did not rule out targeted sabotage. The Nord Stream operator Nord Stream AG reported that the state of emergency on gas pipelines was unprecedented and it was impossible to estimate the timing of repairs. The Prosecutor General's Office of Russia initiated a case on an act of international terrorism. On October 31, Russian President Vladimir Putin reported that Gazprom was allowed to inspect the site of the explosion, and the head of the company, Alexei Miller, reported to him about the inspection. Putin said that the explosion on the gas pipeline is an obvious terrorist attack.
American journalist, Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh on February 8 published his investigation into the explosions at Nord Stream, in which, citing a source, he stated that explosive devices were planted under Russian gas pipelines in June 2022, under the cover of the Baltops exercise, US Navy divers with the support of Norwegian specialists. According to Hersh, the decision to launch the operation was made by US President Joe Biden after nine months of discussions with administration officials involved in national security issues. Later, the Pentagon said that the United States had nothing to do with the blowing up of Russian gas pipelines last year.