Some news is easy to report. Some of it is easy to find, staring you right in the face. Other news takes a long time to surface. Here is one that has taken a long time to surface. Zelensky gave the order to blow up the Nord Stream pipelines.
Russian gas exports to EU soaring – Reuters - https://www.rt.com/business/600362-russian-gas-exports-eu-soaring/Zelensky gave initial order for Nord Stream attack – WSJ
https://www.rt.com/news/602634-ukraine-us-nord-stream/The paper claims the CIA pressured the Ukrainian leader to withdraw permission to target the key pipelines in 2022Vladimir Zelensky approved a Ukrainian plan to sabotage the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, before trying to call off the operation under US pressure, but it was too late to do so, the Wall Street Journal has reported, citing people allegedly involved in the plot.
The energy infrastructure, built to deliver Russian gas to Germany and the rest of Europe, was ruptured by blasts under the Baltic Sea in September 2022.
Early the following year, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh reported that explosives were planted on the Nord Stream pipelines by US Navy divers under the cover of a NATO exercise, and detonated on orders from US President Joe Biden. Top officials in Moscow, including President Vladimir Putin, have also pointed the finger at Washington, arguing that it stood to gain the most from the disruption of Russian gas supplies to the EU.
In its article on Wednesday, the WSJ pointed to another version of events, according to which the pipelines were targeted by the Ukrainians. It was first reported by the Western media shortly after the publication of Hersh’s article.
According to the outlet’s sources, the idea of blowing up Nord Stream was conceived by “a handful of senior Ukrainian military officers and businessmen” as they gathered for drinks in May 2022, a few months after the outbreak of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev. The plotters believed that it would reduce Russia’s energy revenues and make the EU less dependent on Moscow.
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