Expert says U.S. involvement in Nord Stream explosions "not impossible"

Aerial photo provided by the Swedish Coast Guard on Sept. 27, 2022 shows the gas leak from Nord Stream in the Baltic Sea. (The Swedish Coast Guard/Handout via Xinhua)

A Croatian security expert said that the United States has benefited the most from the September 2022 Nord Stream explosions, supporting a thorough investigation into the incident.

ZAGREB, Feb. 21 (Xinhua) -- The involvement of the U.S. Navy in the September 2022 Nord Stream explosions, as alleged by a renowned U.S. journalist in a recent report, is "not impossible" because the United States has benefited the most from the incident, Croatian security expert Mirko Vukobratovic said in an interview with Xinhua on Tuesday.

American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh has written on the U.S. portal Substack that the U.S. Navy was involved in the Nord Stream explosions.

Photo taken in Arlington of Virginia, the United States, shows a screen displaying U.S. President Joe Biden (R) and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attending a press conference in Washington, D.C. Feb. 7, 2022. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

U.S. President Joe Biden said last February that if Russian tanks and troops cross the border and enter Ukraine, "there will be no longer Nord Stream 2."

According to Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize winner, last June, U.S. Navy divers, operating under the cover of a widely publicized mid-summer North Atlantic Treaty Organization exercise known as BALTOPS 22, planted the remotely triggered explosives that destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines three months later.

Vukobratovic credited Hersh's article for providing "important, objective" details about the Nord Stream explosions, from which the United States has benefited the most as it can sell gas to Europe at a much higher price, in addition to exerting pressure on Russia.

An inflatable dummy and a yellow sign board reading "The bill has arrived" are seen at the Big Mamy bar in Rome, Italy, Sept. 17, 2022. (Xinhua/Jin Mamengni)

If the United States had evidence of any Russian involvement, Washington and the U.S. media would be "full of accusations directed against Russia," Vukobratovic noted, adding that the European Union, as usual, followed in the footsteps of the United States in this case.

Vukobratovic welcomed the call by the Chinese government for a thorough investigation into the Nord Stream explosions, which seriously sabotaged vital transnational infrastructure and caused severe damages.

"The Chinese position that the investigation must be objective and impartial is the only correct one. Only when it is carried out professionally can we talk about the intentions of those who caused the explosion," he said.