The secretary of Russia's National Security Council on Monday accused the United States and the United Kingdom of sowing deception by blaming a pro-Ukrainian group for carrying out the Nord Stream pipeline explosions last fall, describing the new allegations as an attempt by the West to “cover up” those truly responsible for the blasts.
"In an attempt to cover up the true people behind the crime, pro-government Anglo-Saxon media, on orders from above, have named a culprit: a group of Ukrainian terrorists," the Russian security chief, Nikolai Patrushev, told the newspaper Argumenti i Fakti.
Patrushev noted that, unlike the U.S. and the U.K., the group in question may not have had the capability to blow up the two natural gas pipelines linking Russia to Europe. Both the U.S. and Britain have denied their involvement in the explosions.
US INTELLIGENCE SUGGESTS PRO-UKRAINIAN GROUP CARRIED OUT NORD STREAM BLASTS: REPORT
"If newspapers claim with zeal that the sabotage was committed by a group of Ukrainian terrorists, then it is necessary to ask whether or not there is indeed such a group at all, and if it is capable of carrying this out," Patrushev, a former Soviet spy believed to be influential in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s thinking, said.
His remarks come after the New York Times reported last week that a pro-Ukraine group believed to comprise Ukrainian or Russian nationals had exploded the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines last fall, citing intelligence reviewed by U.S. officials.
The intelligence reviewed suggested that the group opposed Putin, but it did not specify members of the group or say who had directed or paid for the operation.
The U.S. officials also said there is no evidence that the group was tied to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky or that the perpetrators were acting on the orders of any Ukrainian government officials. Ukraine has denied any involvement in the explosions.
The New York Times's report was bolstered by German broadcast outlets and the print publication Die Zeit, which said the crew was believed to have rented a yacht from a Poland-based company to transport the explosives and place them at the crime scenes.
According to Die Zeit, the six-person group consisted of a captain, two divers, two diving assistants, and a doctor, who were believed to have used professionally forged passports to rent the boat. That report also claimed investigators found traces of explosives at a table in a cabin of the yacht.
The twin Nord Stream gas pipelines were hit by four undersea blasts in September. Western officials said the explosions were "deliberate" and caused extensive damage to the pipelines, including Nord Stream 1, the key natural gas artery linking Russia to the European Union until last summer, when Moscow began throttling its supplies to the bloc.
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Swedish, Danish, and German authorities have each been separately investigating the explosions, which were carried out in Sweden and Denmark's exclusive economic zones. As of last week, none of the investigations have been concluded, according to a spokesperson for the German Chancellery.
U.S. and other Western officials have described the explosions as an act of "sabotage," though they had stopped short of blaming any people or countries involved in the attack.