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Ned Price, the State Department spokesman, brushed off the Russian “disinformation” blaming the U.S. of sabotaging the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, warned that the sabotage “would be met with a united and determined response.”
Price, who has worked as a senior analyst for the Central Intelligence Agency prior to working for the Obama administration, told reporters in Washington Thursday that it was preposterous to think the U.S. would carry out such an action.
“The idea that the United states was in any way involved in the apparent sabotage these pipelines is preposterous,” he said. “It is nothing more than a function of Russian disinformation and it should be treated as such.”
Speculation over who was responsible has permeated social media with many users posting earlier threats by President Joe Biden that the Nord Stream 2 pipeline would not go forward if Russia invaded Ukraine.
“ If Russia invades and that means tanks and troops crossing the border of Ukraine, again there will be there no longer Nord Stream 2,” Biden said. “We will, we’re going to end it.”
A reporter asked him, “How will you do that?”
He responded, “I promise you, we’ll be able to do it.”
Victoria Nuland, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, also said “one way or the other” the project will not move forward.”
The U.S. has long opposed the pipeline and how it made Germany more dependent on Russian energy. The sabotage attack occurred just as Norway and Poland moved forward on the Trans Baltic Pipeline.
The Jewish Policy Center noted that the pipelines are up to 360 feet below sea level and would require submersible vehicles. Ukraine blamed the Russians. The report noted that Ukraine would stand to benefit from a damaged pipeline because it would damage Russia economically.
“The fact that this would deprive Europe against deliveries in the near future, supposing and end of sanctions, makes this an unlikely move for any country that depends on NATO for security,” the report said.
The article floated the idea that the U.S. has at least some incentive to damage the pipelines to prevent European countries from wavering in the Russian energy sanctions in the cold winter months. But that would be a potentially disastrous public relations imbroglio for Washington.
Radoslaw Sikorski, a member of the European Parliament, took to Twitter to show the gas leak in the Baltic Sea, and wrote: “Thank you, U.S.A.”
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