CIA’s Burns Knew All Along That Russia Wasn’t Involved in Nord Stream Bombing

June 15, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—RT covered the report in the June 13 Wall Street Journal that CIA Director William Burns was aware early on that Russia was off the list of suspects of those that detonated the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September 2022, while U.S. officials continued to blame Russia. RT’s June 14 coverage included with additional points, such as that in October 2022, Burns told a “European counterpart,” that “available evidence didn’t point to Russia.” Moreover, RT pointed out, U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm’s claim to BBC at the time, that “it seems” as though Moscow was to blame, is typical of Washington’s careless disregard when it comes to its default position: When in doubt, blame Russia.

Otherwise, the Journal coverage was similar to two stories published the day before by Dutch outlet NOS and Germany’s Die Zeit. The common narrative is that Ukraine had planned to bomb the pipelines, but the Dutch intelligence operatives warned their U.S. counterparts, who were able to at least temporarily restrain Kiev. All of this is by way of implying that an out-of-control faction in Ukraine later went ahead with the operation.

These many intelligence leaks and claims, and the narrative they attempt to rebut, amount to a soap opera in contrast to Seymour Hersh’s careful accounting of how U.S. intelligence officials, with aid from Norway, planted the explosives in June 2022, designed to be detonated on orders from the U.S. President, which occurred in September. The later German and American soap operas were aimed to refute Hersh’s effort to start a serious investigation: And a real investigation is required.