US intelligence agencies learned months in advance of Ukrainian plans to blow up the Nord Stream pipeline, the Washington Post writes. If they want to prevent it at all, it will be very difficult, says defense expert Rob de Wijk.
The American newspaper news rules On information leaked online, from the Pentagon leaked a few months ago.
the act of vandalism
In September 2022, Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines are damaged at the bottom of the Baltic Sea after several explosions. The incident is currently being investigated by several European countries, and the culprit has not yet been identified. It was described by the United States and NATO as “an act of sabotage”.
The CIA had discovered in June last year through a European spy agency that various Ukrainian teams were preparing to carry out an action. Information was shared with Germany and other European countries.
Intelligence services
International relations professor Rob de Wijk was not surprised that America learned about the sabotage plans. “Look, the US intelligence community is doing very well. They also knew very early on that war between Russia and Ukraine would break out. They have a good intelligence site.”
“But they are a little dissatisfied with the lack of information they are getting from Ukraine,” he continues. “This is not very surprising, of course, because the Ukrainians do not want all sorts of secret operations to be revealed on the street.”
no stabbing
But if the Americans knew about it, wouldn’t they want to prevent it? “Of course we don’t know what happened, but it seems to me that way,” says de Wijk. But preventing something like this is harder than you think. “It may not be entirely clear how the leadership structures work in Ukraine,” explains the professor.
“So it may have been done by groups, and this is now being suggested as well, that evade the orders of President Zelensky. The groups that do not listen to the orders of the General Staff in Ukraine,” says de Wick. So America was not able to put an end to it through Zelensky.
Zelensky knows nothing.
Because yes, who is behind the explosions? “The leaked documents show that Zelensky may not have known about them,” says De Wijk. “It’s about groups that don’t listen to the normal leadership structures, who are incredibly opposed to Putin and who think the pipeline gas income flow should also be stopped.”
A good motive to carry out such an attack on Nord Stream pipelines, says the defense expert. According to him, you actually end up with Ukraine only if you think about who benefits from it. “The Russians have no interest in that, because they might as well have turned off the gas tap. And the Americans have no use either. So after that I left Ukraine.”
Don’t talk about it
De Wijk believes that this news will not have consequences for Ukraine in the near future. “Everyone is now focusing more on how and whether Zelensky will end this war, and on breaking the dam, of course,” he says.
Meanwhile, European NATO leaders reportedly agreed at the meetings not to talk about Nord Stream. “I think that’s the case,” says the professor. “Because of the public support for Zelensky and the war he is waging, you don’t want to discuss this further.”
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