Putin: Pro-Ukrainian Unit Causing Pipeline Sabotage is “Complete Nonsense”
“I am certain that this is complete nonsense,” President Vladimir Putin said in fresh statements to Russian media on Tuesday, making rarely detailed remarks concerning the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines. He was referencing the latest narrative out of the West which claims a mysterious “pro-Ukrainian group” was behind the pipeline bombings.
Last Tuesday The New York Times published a story making the claim, and quickly an avalanche of follow-up stories appeared across Western media asserting a similar narrative. Putin says that these stories are intended to run cover in order to hide a “state” actor. He stressed that only specialists backed by a government which possesses “certain technologies” could be capable of such a complex, deep-underwater operation.
The Western media narrative of a rogue “pro-Ukrainian” unit being behind the sabotage op began emerging almost a month after Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published his bombshell report which said President Biden ordered the attack on the natural gas pipelines. It detailed the CIA’s role in conjunction with an elite US Navy deep sea diving team as well as the help of Norwegian intelligence.
Putin in his new remarks also pointed the finger at the United States but stopped short of a direct accusation. The Russian leader also weighed in on the possibility of a repair and the question of future operability. Following Hersh’s report, US officials and establishment media sought to portray the famed reporter as a ‘conspiracy theorist’ who is far past the prime of his career. This is despite Hersh’s track record of blockbuster investigative journalism and his breaking major stories spanning decades of speaking. It remains that he’s among the most celebrated journalists in American history who was proven right time and again.
