As plot around Nord Stream sabotage thickens, West’s tussle with Russia over Ukraine war gets a new twist

Nord Stream pipeline sabotage incident has all the elements of an edgy suspense thriller. In September 2022, a series of explosions led to leakage on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines that ferry natural gas to Germany from Russia through the Baltic Sea. Even before the leakage, the pipelines weren’t fully functional owing to discord between Russia and European Union over Russia’s attack on Ukraine. The sabotage led to another round of scuffle between Russia and the West, with Russia calling it an “act of international terrorism” backed by a state actor. The West termed it an instance of self-sabotage by Russia as a part of its policy of “weaponisation of energy” to avenge European sanctions on the country. Like a good detective plot, the incident had multiple characters who seem to benefit from the sabotage with each looking more plausible than the other to do it. And now in this chase of whodunnit, a new twist has reignited the interest of geopolitics watchers across the world. Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has made a shocking claim recently that the pipeline explosion and its subsequent leakage was the handiwork of the American intelligence agency, CIA, ordered by President Joe Biden. According to him, the US Navy divers had planted the bomb in a covert operation under the pretext of a NATO exercise BALTOPS 22. Seymour has pinned the motive behind the US’ action to the country’s need to reduce the commercial gains of Russia amidst its war with Ukraine. It was also an attempt to reduce the dependence of NATO allies such as Germany on cheap Russian energy to ensure they backed Ukraine’s case in the conflict. Hersh has claimed that the role of the US in sabotaging the pipeline is more believable than Russia punishing itself by disrupting gas supply, which was very lucrative to it commercially. In support of his claim he also alluded to the statement made by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Blinken had called Europe’s end of dependence on Russian energy as a “tremendous opportunity” to undercut Vladimir Putin’s power and influence in the region, while reacting to the Nord pipeline incident. The claims made by Hersh have shocked many, with a section of media dismissing him as a discredited journalist. But Hersh isn’t new to this. He has made many claims in the past including on the My Lai massacre in Vietnam that had fetched him the Pulitzer prize and on the abusive treatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. In 2015, he had even called the operation to kill Osama bin Laden by the US as “staged”. This time his claims on the pipeline sabotage have once again brought him at loggerheads with the US government. The White House has issued a statement dismissing his claim as “utterly false” and a piece of “fiction”. Meanwhile Russia has lapped up his theory as concrete evidence of American involvement, with the Russian foreign ministry spokesperson asking for further investigation to reveal the truth. While the veracity of Hersh’s claim remains questionable because of its reliance on a single anonymous source, it definitely has given a new twist to the conflict between Russia and the West over Ukraine. If at all, his claims are taken seriously by the European community, they have the potential to disrupt US’ relations with its NATO allies. Some experts are claiming that the American action is nothing short of an economic war against its own allies in Europe. Interestingly, Western media has been cautiously treading on the matter by providing limited coverage of the claim, but China as well as Russian media is fully exploiting the expose to target the Biden administration. A section of the environment lobby as well as Russia sympathisers are demanding full blown investigation of the same, with impeachment of President Biden as a possible conclusion. Meanwhile, the principal “victim” of the sabotage, Germany, has reacted to Hersh’s report by saying that it has no information in this regard. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also maintained a stoic silence on the issue leading to Maximilian Krah, a right-wing political leader and a lawmaker to blame his silence on his knowledge of the US’ plan in advance. Interestingly, in February 2022 a moment of disunity was witnessed between US and Germany on the Nord pipeline issue when Biden had vowed to disallow Nord Stream 2 if Russia launched a military invasion against Ukraine, while Scholz had refused to commit to the same explicitly. Biden nurses a deep seated opposition to the pipeline with the US even convincing Germany to not increase its dependence on Russia for energy for a long time, but the allegations by Seymour Hersh still remain highly doubtful without any concrete evidence to corroborate the same. The author is a PhD in International Relations from the Department of International Relations, South Asian University. Her research focuses on the political economy of South Asia and regional integration. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication. Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News, India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.