Putin’s TV propagandists gleefully pounce on Nord Stream conspiracy theories that West was behind sabotage – with claims that BRITAIN sent in divers adding to Kremlin’s claim that the blast was ‘state sponsored terrorism’
- Television stooges propose new theory that Britain was behind gas pipe attack
- Latest salvo in propaganda war over who’s responsible for Nord Stream bombs
- Yesterday Putin called the sabotage an act of state-sponsored ‘terrorism’
- Without any evidence, presenter Olga Skabeyeva said British scuba diving exercises were going on for the third day right next to the Nord Stream
Putin’s television stooges have pounced on a new conspiracy theory that it was British divers who were behind the mysterious gas pipeline bombings in the Baltic Sea.
The theory is the latest effort by Kremlin propagandists to shift blame and spread confusion over the attacks on the Nord Stream pipeline, which Russia called the result of state-sponsored ‘terrorism’.
A sharp drop in pressure on both pipelines was registered on Sept 26 and seismologists detected explosions, triggering a wave of speculation about who might have sabotaged one of Russia’s most important energy corridors.
The European Union said it suspected sabotage caused the damage to the Gazprom-led Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in Swedish and Danish waters. The White House has dismissed Russian allegations it was behind the incidents.
And now presenter Olga Skabeyeva, also known as Putin’s ‘Iron Doll’ propagandist, has employed the usual conspiracy theorist’s playbook of raising a lot of questions that do not require support or evidence to cast suspicion on Britain.
‘If you look at the military activity in the bombing area, there are a lot of coincidences,’ she told viewers. ‘Watch your hands, as they say.’
TV presenter Olga Skabeyeva claimed that British scuba diving exercises were going on over three days right next to the Nord Stream gas pipeline when the sabotage occurred
She was employing the usual conspiracy theorist’s playbook to raise a lot of questions that do not require support or evidence to cast suspicion on Britain
The blasts have resulted in thousands of tons of natural gas leaking into the Baltic Sea, causing a dangerous swell that has disrupted shipping and may cause an environmental catastrophe if the leak cannot be stopped
Russian President Vladimir Putin said the ‘sabotage’ against Nord Stream is an ‘act of international terrorism’
Without citing any evidence, Skabeyeva said: ‘On the morning after the explosion, a report came to the White House that British scuba diving exercises were going on for the third day right next to the Nord Stream.
‘The same day London rewarded them for some kind of combat merit in carrying out…an important exercise in foreign territorial waters, whatever that means.
‘A few weeks before the explosion, an American military helicopter circled tightly over the scene.
‘Yes and the blast site is just a hushed up place for exercises, it is where Denmark and NATO train regularly.
‘In June the US boasted of successes in the field of underwater drones, which were tested.
‘Where? Again at the same location.
‘Now Pentagon chief [Lloyd] Austin is offering Denmark and Sweden his help in the investigation.
‘And all of a sudden the Western media is trying hard to push the idea into the minds of the general public that the gas explosions were caused by the Kremlin, which of course benefits Gazprom.’
There have been accusations that US President Joe Biden is responsible for the Nord Stream attack, citing his statement in early February that he would bring Nord Stream ‘to an end’ should Russian troops and tanks enter Ukraine
She said there was ‘no proof’ the British were behind the underwater bombing bit it was ‘highly likely’.
Meanwhile, Russia’s top spy said on Friday that Moscow had intelligence indicating that the West was behind what he said was a ‘terrorist act’ against the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea.
‘We have materials that point to a Western trace in the organisation and implementation of these terrorist acts,’ Sergei Naryshkin, the director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), was shown telling reporters on state television.
The spy chief’s remarks are the most direct public accusation against the West from a senior Russian official. He did not say what evidence Russia had, but said the West was trying to obscure who carried out the attack.
‘The West is doing everything to hide the true perpetrators and organisers of this international terrorist act,’ Naryshkin said. The SVR is the direct successor to the once mighty First Chief Directorate of the Soviet-era KGB.
President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said the ‘unprecedented sabotage’ against the Nord Stream gas pipelines was ‘an act of international terrorism.’
The Kremlin declined to comment on Naryshkin’s remarks but said there needed to be a thorough international investigation into the incidents.
Sergei Naryshkin, the director of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR)
Despite Putin’s remarks yesterday in phone call with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan, the attack is widely thought to have been orchestrated by Russia.
NATO said the explosions looked like a reckless and irresponsible act of sabotage, and that any deliberate attack against infrastructure of countries in the Western alliance would be met by a ‘united and determined response’.
Sweden’s energy minister said on Friday it was ‘very likely’ that the attack on the pipelines was done on purpose by a state actor.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: ‘This looks like an act of terrorism, possibly on a state level.
‘It is very difficult to imagine that such an act of a terrorism could have happened without the involvement of a state of some kind’.
Since the ruptures were first detected earlier this week, officials in Moscow have hinted that the West, led by the US could be behind the attack. On Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Washington stood to gain from the pipelines being disrupted.
Neither Nord Stream 1 or 2 were in operation when the ruptures were discovered on Monday, but both contained gas. Nord Stream AG, the operator for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, said it expects the gas leak to stop by Monday, but that it has not been able to access the area to assess the damage.
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