Moscow has accused Washington of attacking the Nord Stream pipelines.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov cited a report in which the prominent U.S. journalist Seymour Hersh wrote that the CIA was behind the attack.
- Ryabkov told reporters in Moscow that the U.S. and "several NATO allies" were responsible for the blasts in September that damaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines.
- He cited a report written by Hersh, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist.
- Hersh's report alleges that U.S. divers planted mines on the pipelines using a NATO military exercise as cover.
- The report is based on one unnamed source "with direct knowledge" of the operation.
- Swedish authorities published a report in November concluding that the damage to the pipelines was caused by "grievous sabotage."
- The White House described Hersh's report as "utterly false and complete fiction."
- The Nord Stream 1 pipeline was the biggest natural gas conduit linking Russia to Europe.
- Nord Stream 2 was the first major energy project between Russia and Europe to be canceled ahead of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
- Both pipelines experienced major leaks on Sept. 26 that caused gas to bubble to the surface of the Baltic Sea.
- Denmark and Sweden said the leaks in the pipelines were caused by detonated explosives, but neither country indicated who was responsible.
