The ongoing investigation in the West into the Nord Stream explosion is unlikely to determine the real culprit behind the incident - RT quoted SVR Director Sergey Naryshkin as saying.
Mr. Naryshkin accused the US and UK of being directly involved in the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipeline attacks in 2022.
Mr. Sergey Naryshkin made the above statements at a meeting of intelligence officials of the Community of Independent States (CIS) in Astana, Kazakhstan last week. The speech was published on the SVR website on October 7.
The ongoing Western investigation into the attack is unlikely to determine the real mastermind and culprit, while the public has been provided with incredible theories about the sabotage through the media, the SVR director said.
"Russia has repeatedly requested data on the Nord Stream explosion from European countries, but has never received it. Western media is trying to blame a group of Ukrainian amateur divers, accusing the group of operating independently. However, this is a version designed for an innocent ordinary person," said Mr. Naryshkin.
The SVR is holding "credible information" showing "direct involvement of the US and UK in this major terrorist attack," said SVR Director Naryshkin. The attack involved special services from both countries and professional saboteurs.
"The US administration believes that carrying out such sabotage acts is reasonable to divide Europe and above all to divide Germany from Russia," the intelligence director said, implying that Washington is "uncertain" whether it can persuade Berlin and other European Union (EU) countries to abandon their "extremely profitable" economic ties with Moscow.
"The United States and the United Kingdom will be responsible for this. As the old saying goes, he who sows the wind will reap the whirlwind" - Mr. Naryshkin concluded.
The Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines were built under the Baltic Sea to transport Russian gas directly to Germany. The pipelines were disabled by powerful underwater explosions in September 2022.
In a February 2023 article, Pulitzer Prize-winning American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh accused the attack of being directly directed by the White House, with US military divers planting explosives in the gas pipelines, using a NATO exercise in the Baltic Sea as cover.
While Washington has strongly denied the allegations, Moscow has found the theory plausible.
Another theory about the attack appeared in Western media shortly after Hersh's shocking revelation and quickly became the top theory surrounding the incident.
The attack was blamed on a group of privately funded Ukrainian amateur divers, who were believed to have acted on behalf of then-Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny.
Mr. Valery Zaluzhny later became the Ukrainian Ambassador to the UK.
