US knew of Ukraine's plan to blow up Nord Stream gas pipeline three months before

The United States knew Ukraine’s plan of blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipeline three months before the explosion on 26 September, 2022. According to a report by The Washington Post, an unnamed European intelligence agency told the CIA in June last year, four months after Russia invaded Ukraine, that a six-person team of Ukrainian special operations forces intended to blow up the Russia-to-Germany gas pipeline. The team reported directly to the commander in chief of the Ukrainian armed forces. The members of this team had planned to use false identities to rent a boat, before using a ‘submersible vehicle’ to dive along the Baltic Sea floor and target the pipeline with C4 explosives. The report further said the intelligence was shared online on Discord, purportedly by Air National Guard Jack Teixeria who was arrested in April on charges related to the leak of sensitive US documents. The Washington Post said the intelligence report was based on information provided by a person in Ukraine. It also mentioned that the CIA shared it with Germany and other European countries in June 2022. Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, constructed to carry natural gas from Russia to Germany and each of them consisting of two pipes, were rocked by underwater explosions on 26 September last year. The explosion on pipelines by Russia’s state-controlled Gazprom to pump 110 billion cubic metres (bcm) of natural gas a year to Germany left them useless and also cut off a source of billions of dollars in earnings for Russia. Accusations were made against several countries including Russia, the US and Ukraine, but all denied responsibility. The gas pipeline explosions occurred in the economic zones of Sweden and Denmark and both the countries called them deliberate, but it is yet to be determined who was responsible. Meanwhile, the US and NATO called the incident “an act of sabotage.” With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.