The CIA warned Ukraine not to destroy Nord Stream months before a pipeline attack, after receiving a tip from Dutch military intelligence, media reported.
The Dutch military intelligence agency, MIVD, received information about an « imminent attack » on Nord Stream from an unnamed source in Ukraine in June, three months before a series of underwater explosions hit the pipes last September, an investigation joint Dutch and German news broadcasts released on Tuesday Shows.
According to the plan received from the MIVD, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valery Zaluzhny, was in charge of the operation against the Nord Stream, which involved a small team of divers traveling on a sailboat and was supposed to take place in mid-June 2022.
Dutch intelligence then notified the United States, which made contact with Ukraine via the CIA to warn them, reports said.
The Dutch government and MIVD refused to comment on their joint report to NOS, Die Zeit and ARD.
Last September, the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, which connect Russia to Germany across the Baltic Sea, were targeted by two explosions in what has been called a deliberate act of sabotage by Swedish and Danish authorities.
Though fingers were quickly pointed at Russia for the bombing, the culprit has not yet been identified.
In a recent interview with Axel Springer, the parent company of POLITICO, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denied any involvement in the attack.
« I am president and I give orders accordingly, » Zelenskyy said. “Nothing like this has been done by Ukraine. I would never act like that.
