Interview: Report on U.S. involvement in Nord Stream explosions fits 11 known facts, says U.S. scholar

This aerial photo released by the Danish Ministry of Defense on Sept. 27, 2022 shows the Nord Stream gas pipeline leak site. (Danish Defense Ministry/Handout via Xinhua)

According to Seymour Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize winner, last June, the U.S. Navy divers, operating under the cover of a widely publicized mid-summer NATO exercise known as BALTOPS 22, planted the remotely triggered explosives that destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines three months later.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) -- The recent report by a famed U.S. journalist on the involvement of the U.S. Navy in the Nord Stream explosions is "credible" and is consistent with several existing facts, a renowned scholar has said.

American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh said last week on the U.S. portal Substack that the U.S. Navy was involved in the Nord Stream explosions.

According to Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize winner, last June, the U.S. Navy divers, operating under the cover of a widely publicized mid-summer NATO exercise known as BALTOPS 22, planted the remotely triggered explosives that destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines three months later.

"I have long hypothesized that the U.S. Government carried out this action, and Hersh's account adds to the likelihood of that hypothesis," said Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, in an emailed interview with Xinhua.

This photo taken on Jan. 20, 2023 shows the White House in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

The professor has listed 11 facts corresponding to Hersh's report.

First and second are "the long-standing vociferous U.S. opposition to Nord Stream and the extensive record of U.S. covert operations against the infrastructure of other countries," he said.

U.S. President Joe Biden last year publicly warned that in the event of a Russian military campaign, the United States would end the pipeline, declaring, "I promise you we will be able to do it," said the economist.

Fourth, U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland warned in 2022 that Nord Stream "would not move forward" if Russia launches operations, he added.

Moreover, "very few countries, if any, other than the United States have the technical capacity to carry out such an attack without immediate detection," said Sachs.

Aerial photo provided by the Swedish Coast Guard on Sept. 28, 2022 shows the fourth leak on Nord Stream 2 pipeline in Sweden's exclusive economic zone. (The Swedish Coast Guard/Handout via Xinhua)

He also listed Sweden's remarkable unwillingness to reveal the results of its own investigation into the explosions, and the silence in mainstream Western media regarding Hersh's report, as two facts that can explain his hypothesis.

The eighth fact is that "Western intelligence agencies have admitted that there is no evidence whatsoever that Russia carried out this act," he said.

The celebration by U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, who deemed the pipeline destruction a "tremendous opportunity" to wean Europe from Russian gas, and by Nuland, who called the damaged Nord Stream 2 "a hunk of metal at the bottom of the sea," also add to the possibility of the United States orchestrating the destruction, said the professor.

Lastly, Hersh's credible and detailed account has yet to be refuted other than possibly in minor details, he said.