CIA discussed Nord Stream sabotage plans with Ukraine

The idea of a sabotage attack on the Nord Stream pipeline was said to have originated from the Ukrainian side. According to Ukrainian accounts, the proposal was initially met with enthusiasm from the Americans. Several follow-up meetings took place, during which the technical details of the potential operation were discussed.

According to Der Spiegel, at the beginning of the summer, the Americans changed their stance and warned the Ukrainians against carrying out the plan. “Perhaps the American agents, during their talks with the saboteurs in Kyiv, merely sought to gather as much information as possible, which created the impression that they were supporting the operation. It is also possible that some time passed before the Ukrainian sabotage plans, conveyed through US agents in Kyiv, reached decision-makers in Washington, where they were presumably not met with enthusiasm.”

As we now know, the sabotage could not be prevented. Around the same time that the US withdrew its approval for the operation, Dutch military intelligence obtained information about the planned attack and warned both the CIA and Germany’s Federal Intelligence Service (BND). The operation was reportedly approved by then-Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Gen. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, without the knowledge of President Volodymyr Zelensky.

Der Spiegel requested a comment from a CIA spokesperson. The American side described the reports as “completely untrue.” Currently, a Ukrainian citizen, Serhii K., is being held in a German detention facility. At the time of the pipeline attack, he was allegedly a member of a special forces unit of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The sabotage took place on September 26, 2022, on the seabed of the Baltic Sea. Three out of four Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline lines were destroyed. The pipelines were intended to transport natural gas from Russia to Germany.