Der Spiegel: New details about the involvement of US intelligence and Zaluzhny in the Nord Stream bombing

The German Der Spiegel, citing informed sources, reported that the CIA was aware of the terrorist plans to blow up the gas Nord Stream pipeline.

Der Spiegel reported that the CIA was aware at an early stage of the plans of the terrorists who carried out the attack on the North Stream and didn’t object to it at first.

According to the investigation, they later changed their minds and warned the Ukrainians not to carry out the plans, but to no avail.

According to Der Spiegel, the Americans learned of the plans to attack the gas pipeline much earlier than previously thought.

The sources indicated that in the spring of 2022, US agents met with the organizers of the Nord Stream attack and exchanged information about the technical details of the sabotage.

A Ukrainian source familiar with the matter told Der Spiegel that the Americans didn’t initially oppose the sabotage.

He added that the Ukrainians didn’t receive any warnings at the time, quite the opposite.

Der Spiegel quoted CIA representatives as saying that the agency considers the information contained in the investigation to be “never accurate” and shouldn’t be commented on.

The same sources also reported that the former commander of the Ukrainian forces, Valeriy Zaluzhny, approved the operation to blow up the Nord Stream pipeline.

“This operation was eventually approved by Valery Zaluzny, who was then the head of the army,” Der Spiegel said.

The sources claimed that the bombing wasn’t carried out with the approval of Volodymyr Zelensky, and that his office was not informed of the operation.

Last month, a document was published on the German Supreme Court’s website, indicating that the court strongly suggests that the former Ukrainian military officer, who was arrested in Italy and extradited to Germany, previously known in the case as Sergei Kuznetsov, carried out the sabotage on the Nord Stream lines at a government commission.

On September 26, 2022, underwater explosions occurred near the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, causing severe damage to three of the four Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, which are one of the world’s most important energy infrastructures for transporting natural gas from Russia to Europe.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed that Russia won’t accept claims that Kyiv alone was behind the explosion of the Northern Stream gas pipelines in September 2022.