American intelligence was informed as early as the spring of 2022 about the intentions of the Ukrainian side "to do something" with the Russian gas pipelines "Nord Stream", claims the German publication "Spiegel", citing Ukrainian sources.
According to the publication, the first meeting at which CIA officers learned about such plans took place in April 2022, shortly after the start of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. According to "Spiegel" interlocutors, the reaction of the American side was initially "sympathetic". However, as early as the summer, CIA representatives made it clear understand that neither support nor funding for such an operation can be expected.
The publication assumes that it is possible that the information collected by American agents in Kiev reached the top political leadership in Washington with a delay, where such an initiative was probably not greeted with enthusiasm.
The article further states that the US tried to dissuade high-ranking Ukrainian officials and military personnel from carrying out a sabotage operation, but without success. According to "Spiegel", a CIA representative contacted the Ukrainian president's office and insisted that the operation be canceled.
However, the CIA itself rejected the information, describing it as "absolutely false" in response to an inquiry by the German publication.
The Nord Stream gas pipeline was taken out of service in September 2022 after a series of underwater explosions in Baltic Sea. German law enforcement authorities suspect that a group of Ukrainian citizens led by former Ukrainian military officer Sergei Kuznetsov is behind the attack. A German court has already ordered his arrest.
Kuznetsov was arrested in Italy on August 21 on suspicion of blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipeline. On September 16, a court in Bologna reclassified his case as terrorism, but the Italian Supreme Court overturned this decision on October 16, finding it incorrect.
Kuznetsov himself categorically denies involvement in the sabotage and had declared a hunger strike in prison in Italy.
In parallel with the Italian case, German authorities requested the extradition of another Ukrainian - Volodymyr Zhuravlev, who was detained in Poland on September 30 under the same investigation. However, Polish courts refused the extradition due to lack of sufficient evidence.
The German authorities continue their investigation, which aims to clarify the circumstances surrounding one of the most significant attacks on European energy infrastructure in recent years.