CIA reportedly warned Ukraine not to attack Nord Stream last year
Breanne Deppisch
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The CIA warned Ukraine last year that it objected to any plan to attack the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines linking Russia and Germany, nearly three months before the lines were sabotaged, according to new reports from U.S., Dutch, and German news outlets.
The alleged plot was shared with the United States in a memo from the Dutch Military Intelligence and Security Service, or MIVD, which cited a source in Ukraine. It included information that the Ukrainian military had been planning to use divers from its military to attack the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in mid-June but that the plan had been canceled, according to the New York Times.
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Even so, the CIA was alarmed by the information and contacted Ukraine to reinforce its opposition to an attack. It also passed along the information to its counterparts in Germany and other European countries, which own a minority stake in both pipelines.
Just three months after the U.S. issued its warning, however, both the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were hit by a series of explosions that closely resembled Kyiv’s plans, which were detailed by an alleged copy of the intelligence memo shared on the chat platform Discord.
According to the New York Times, the similarities between Ukraine’s planned attack and the explosions that took place in September 2022 were so similar that American officials now believe the plans were delayed rather than canceled outright — and potentially carried out by a different group.
The U.S. and Western allies have condemned the attacks as an act of “sabotage,” though all have stopped short of issuing blame in the attack. Germany, Sweden, and Denmark are each conducting investigations into the explosions, and all three investigations remain ongoing.
According to the Dutch intelligence summary shared with the U.S. last summer, Ukraine’s military operation had been “put on hold” for unknown reasons.
The intelligence report did not mention Nord Stream 2, the second pipeline linking Russia to Germany, which was not yet operational at the time of the explosions.
Both Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were exploded in the September 2022 attacks.
The intelligence also said the plan would involve Ukrainian officials using fake Estonian passports. At least some of the people involved in the attacks used fake Bulgarian passports, according to a European official.
Still, some key details appear to mirror the memo shared with U.S. intelligence.
It said that all members of the group were to report directly to Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s highest-ranking military officer, who was tapped to head up the operation to give Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky plausible deniability in any attack.
German investigators have said they believe six people used fake passports to rent a yacht called the Andromeda to transport the explosives and plant them on the Baltic Sea floor at three separate locations along the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines.
Authorities also said previously that they believe those involved are skilled divers given that the explosives were planted at a depth of about 240 feet.
Earlier this year, German authorities also said they matched traces of the same explosive residue found on the exploded pipeline with residue found inside the cabin of the rented yacht.
European officials said the explosions caused “extensive damage” to Nord Stream 1, the main gas artery linking Russia to the EU and supplying the bulk of the bloc’s supplies until Moscow began throttling its deliveries last summer.
At a press briefing last week, White House spokesman John Kirby said investigations into the Nord Stream explosions are ongoing.
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“The last thing that we’re going to want to do from this podium is get ahead of those investigations,” Kirby told reporters when asked about the allegations.
Ukraine has repeatedly denied responsibility for the blasts. In March, the spokesman for Zelensky dismissed the idea of any responsibility in the attacks as an “amusing conspiracy” theory.