Russia believes that Ukraine did not sabotage the pipeline

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia assessed that Washington and London use the tried and tested method of controlled information leakage to influence public opinion to divert attention from the real perpetrators of the Nord Stream gas pipeline sabotage.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov estimated that the attack’s perpetrators wanted to distract attention. Peskov stated that it is evident that coordination is taking place regarding the Western media reports of a Ukrainian group being responsible for the gas pipeline explosion, according to RIA Novosti.

The CIA warned its European counterparts last summer that Ukrainian citizens might be planning a terrorist assault on the Nord Stream, as per the final article in the series released by The Wall Street Journal, according to anonymous sources in the intelligence services.

The German Zeit reported a day earlier that the ship used to plant the bombs had been located. The paper suggests that the suspension of the pipeline for roughly one and a half months before the explosion implies that it needed maintenance. The British and Americans allegedly did not partake in the sabotage.

Ukraine denied involvement in the explosion last September at three Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines. Kyiv’s denials followed a New York Times report that quoted an unnamed US intelligence official suggesting Ukraine could be behind the attack.

There are no plans to repair the Nord Stream

Russia’s Nord Stream undersea gas pipeline, badly damaged in an explosion last year, is set to be sealed and shut down as there are no immediate plans to repair or reactivate it, unnamed sources said.

Russia’s Gazprom, in collaboration with European gas companies, constructed two pipelines for Nord Streams 1 and 2. Each consists of two pipes and can deliver 110 billion cubic meters of natural gas annually to Germany underneath the Baltic Sea. Reuters reports that of the three pipes subjected to explosions in September, only one “North Stream 2” pipe remained unscathed.

Gazprom has said that repairing the broken pipes is an option. Still, sources familiar with the plans say Moscow sees little prospect of its relations with the West improving enough in the foreseeable future to require the pipelines.