The U.S. government has not issued an official denial but a senior official, speaking anonymously, denied sabotaging Nord Stream pipelines.
“I think think many of our partners, I think, have determined or believed it is sabotage,” said the shy senior defense official. “I’m just — I’m not at the point where I can tell you one way or the other. I think we’re very interested in figuring out what has occurred here and we’ll continue to stay connected to our partners as we proceed.”
The Epoch Times further reported:
When asked whether any U.S. involvement could be ruled out, the official said that “we were absolutely not involved.”
Officials in Germany and the European Union have suspected that the damage to two pipelines was an act of sabotage. The incident was reported Monday evening as the lines were seen spewing natural gas into the Baltic Sea.
Danish Defense Minister Morten Bodskov met with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg to discuss the damage to the pipelines on Wednesday. Both said it was an act of sabotage, although they did not publicly say who could be responsible.
“There is reason to be concerned about the security situation in the Baltic Sea region,” Bodskov said in a statement to media outlets. “Russia has a significant military presence in the Baltic Sea region, and we expect them to continue their saber rattling.”
No country or nation-state has claimed responsibility for the incident. No Western country has pointed the blame at Russia, although some officials have posted to social media that Moscow was behind the incident.
“All available information indicates those leaks are the result of a deliberate act,” Josep Borrell, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said in a statement. He continued, “Any deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure is utterly unacceptable and will be met with a robust and united response.”
Russian officials said the FSB security service is probing the incident as an act of “international terrorism,” authorities told Interfax. And Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday that suggestions Russia would damage its own gas pipeline were “predictably stupid” and questioned why Moscow would damage its own infrastructure, Reuters reported.
In his briefing with reporters, Peskov also suggested the U.S. government may have been involved. He made note of President Joe Biden’s February remark that “there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2” if Russia invaded Ukraine.
It is unclear why the Biden administration used an anonymous official to deny sabotage that could be considered an act of war.
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