It turns out that he "disobeyed orders" and bombed the Nord Stream?

2024-08-16

"One night in May 2022, fueled by alcohol and patriotic fervor, several Ukrainian officers proposed the next radical course of action: destroying the Nord Stream pipeline..."

In the nearly two years since the Nord Stream incident, Western media have repeatedly exposed the so-called "behind-the-scenes news". The Wall Street Journal published a new long article on August 14, pointing the finger at the Ukrainians again. The article quoted multiple sources as saying that Ukrainian President Zelensky initially approved the plan proposed by several Ukrainian officers to destroy the Nord Stream, but the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) asked to stop after learning about it. Zelensky, who received the instruction, immediately ordered the former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, Zaluzhny, to stop the operation, but Zaluzhny ignored the order and continued to move forward.

File photo: Former Ukrainian Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Zaluzhny and Ukrainian President Zelensky

The Wall Street Journal interviewed four senior Ukrainian defense and security officials who were either involved in the plan or had direct knowledge of it, all of whom said the Nord Stream pipeline was a "legitimate target" in Ukraine's defense against Russia.

The article described that the "weird plan" to destroy the "Nord Stream" pipeline may have been born on a night when a bar was closing. More than four months before the incident, several senior Ukrainian military officers and businessmen gathered together to celebrate the progress made on the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield. Under the influence of alcohol and patriotic enthusiasm, someone proposed a plan to destroy the "Nord Stream" pipeline.

The Ukrainian operation cost about $300,000 and used a small, rented yacht with a crew of six, including trained civilian divers, according to people involved in the plan. One of the crew members was a woman, so people would mistake them for a group of friends on vacation on a yacht.

Zelensky initially approved the plan, according to an officer involved in the plan and three people familiar with the matter. But later, when the CIA learned of it and demanded that the operation be halted, Zelensky gave the order to Zaluzhny, who was leading the operation. Despite this, Zaluzhny moved forward with the plan.

The Andromeda Yacht Suspected of Being Used to Bomb the Nord Stream - Wall Street Journal

Specifically, the plan to sabotage the Nord Stream pipeline was approved by Zelensky within a few days, but all orders were given verbally and no written records were left.

Several people familiar with the Dutch investigation said the Netherlands Military Intelligence and Security Service (MIVD) alerted the CIA to the Ukrainian plan after learning of the Ukrainian operation. U.S. officials then quickly informed Germany of the news, according to U.S. and German officials.

U.S. officials said the CIA warned Zelenskiy to stop the operation. Ukrainian officials and Western intelligence officials familiar with the matter said Zelenskiy then ordered Zaluzhny to stop the operation. But Zaluzhny ignored the order and his team adjusted its original plan.

Three people familiar with the matter said that after the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline, Zelensky severely criticized Zaluzhny, but the latter did not take it seriously. Zaluzhny told Zelensky that once the sabotage team was sent out, it would be isolated and could not be stopped because any contact with them could jeopardize the operation.

"It's like a torpedo: Once you launch it at the enemy, you can't pull it back, it keeps sailing until 'bang'," said a senior military official with knowledge of the conversation.

German police have been investigating the Nord Stream attack for nearly two years, confirming some of the above-mentioned people's statements, and have obtained emails, mobile phones, satellite phone communications, fingerprints and DNA samples from suspected Nord Stream sabotage gangs. However, the German investigation did not directly link Zelensky to the covert operation.

Zaluzhny, who was removed from active service in March 2024 and now serves as Ukraine's ambassador to the UK, said in a text message that he knew nothing about such actions and any suggestion of it was "pure provocation." He added that the Ukrainian armed forces had no right to carry out overseas missions, so he would not participate in them.

A senior official of Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) denied any connection between the Ukrainian government and the sabotage and said Zelenskiy "did not approve any such actions on the territory of a third country, nor issued relevant orders."

The sea surface after the attack on the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline

From September 26 to 28, 2022, at least four leaks were found in the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipelines near Danish waters. So far, all parties involved in the investigation believe that the pipeline leaks were "deliberate sabotage", and the Swedish Safety Agency found traces of explosives at the scene of the accident. However, there are still many different opinions about the possible mastermind behind the incident.

Last February, senior U.S. investigative editor and Pulitzer Prize winner Hersh released an investigative report, pointing out that the "Nord Stream" natural gas pipeline leak was caused by the U.S. government. In June 2022, U.S. Navy divers buried explosive devices under the pipeline under the cover of a military exercise to fulfill an order personally issued by U.S. President Biden. In response, U.S. government agencies urgently denied it.

Since then, the New York Times and several German media have successively cited new information released by different sources. The former identified the mastermind as a "pro-Ukrainian" group, and the latter also claimed that "the clues point to Ukraine." The multiple revelations from Western media have made the "Nord Stream" incident a more thorough "Rashomon."

In January this year, the Wall Street Journal reported that European investigators have always believed that the attack on the Nord Stream pipeline was launched by Ukrainians through Poland, but Poland was reluctant to disclose it and even concealed some potentially critical evidence.

In February, Sweden and Denmark successively announced the suspension of the investigation into the Nord Stream incident. Sweden said that it had "no jurisdiction" over the case, but had provided the results of the investigation to German investigators, but due to confidentiality regulations, he could not publish any evidence.

According to Reuters, The Guardian and several German media reports on August 14, Germany has locked in a suspect related to the "Nord Stream" incident, confirming that the Ukrainian man codenamed "Vladimir Z" is in Poland and issued an EU arrest warrant in June. A spokesman for the Polish National Prosecutor's Office confirmed that Poland received an arrest warrant in June, but the man left Poland in early July.

Regarding the bombing of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline, Kremlin spokesman Peskov said in March last year that only state-backed special forces could carry out such a terrorist attack.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has also said that this incident is clearly an act of terrorism at the national level. If Russia is not allowed to enter the site for investigation, it will be difficult to investigate the truth of the incident. Putin also said that the possibility of repairing the pipeline in the future is not ruled out. In an interview with Carlson, a well-known American media person in February this year, he said that he would not talk about the details of the incident, just look at who can profit from it and who has the ability. He believes that not everyone has the ability to enter the bottom of the Baltic Sea and carry out this explosion. Putin was also surprised that the German leaders remained silent on this issue.

Source: Observer.com

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It turns out that he "disobeyed orders" and bombed the Nord Stream?

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