US and UK considering new Nord Stream-style attacks - Putin aide

RT
Mon, 11 Nov 2024 21:17 UTC

© Getty Images / Swedish Coast Guard

Such incidents are needed by the West to sow chaos and to advance its interests, Nikolay Patrushev says

The US and the UK are considering staging new attacks on critical undersea infrastructure reminiscent of the Nord Stream pipelines bombing, Nikolay Patrushev, an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, has said.

Patrushev, who led Russia's Security Council for over a decade before assuming his new role this year, made the remarks in an interview with the Kommersant daily published on Monday.

"According to available information, the Americans and the British are viewing the sabotage on the Nord Stream pipelines as one of many methods to advance their economic interests. They could attack other infrastructure facilities, including undersea fiber optic cables that provide communications throughout the world," Patrushev stated.

The senior official also reiterated Moscow's position on the 2022 Nord Stream attack, stating that the theory that it was bombed by some freelance Ukrainian divers did not hold any water.

The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were built under the Baltic Sea to deliver Russian natural gas directly to Germany. Both were destroyed by underwater explosions in September 2022. A number of Western media outlets later claimed that a six-strong crew of Ukrainian divers on a small yacht had planted the explosive devices that ruptured the pipelines.

"Anyone interested in the capabilities of foreign naval forces knows that the Ukrainian Navy has neither the equipment nor the trained specialists to carry out a deep-sea terrorist attack. Only special forces of NATO countries could carry out a sabotage of such scale," he said, adding that it is "known for certain" the UK and the UK both possess such capabilities.

The ultimate goal of the Nord Stream bombing - as well as of the alleged potential new attacks - is to sow chaos and destabilization worldwide, Patrushev believes.

"Since the hegemony of the West began to falter, Washington decided to bring chaos to the energy market, including by destabilizing maritime transportation," the official explained.

Patrushev pointed to the US campaign against the Yemen based Houthi group, which he said is officially designed to protect maritime traffic, but in reality serves as a "smokescreen" for plans to spark an "escalation in the region."

Destabilization is needed to put pressure on major consumers, including China and India, and to lay a foundation for grabbing more of the global energy market, he suggested.

Comment:
Comment 1)
A week later there is this related article:
Undersea data cable between Germany and Finland broken 18 Nov 2024 16:18

Authorities in Finland are investigating the cause of a broken underwater cable in the Baltic Sea which runs southwest to Germany.

State-owned data service provider Cinia reported on Monday that a fault had been detected in the C-Lion1 cable.

Comment 2)
The damaged cable runs to Germany. Incidentally, the German Chancellor has been dragging his feet on an important issue for quite some time, and possibly more serious, continues to do so.
Just before the rupture of the cable was reported, there was:
18 Nov, 2024 13:24
Germany rules out U-turn on Ukraine missiles

Chancellor Olaf Scholz continues to oppose donating long-range Taurus weapons, despite US president Joe Biden reportedly allowing Kiev to use ATACMS

The German government has no intention of approving the supply of long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine for strikes deep into Russia, despite a reported shift on the issue in the US, according to Defense Minister Boris Pistorius.

US President Joe Biden has granted Ukraine limited permission for long-range strikes against targets deep inside Russia with American-donated ATACMS missiles, multiple news outlets reported on Sunday. Moscow has said any such attacks would cross a red line and would constitute a direct act of war with a NATO country. The US, UK, and France previously provided long-range weapons to Ukraine, but Germany has refused to do so.

The decision by Washington "doesn't change our assessment at the moment," Pistorius told reporters on Monday, when asked if Chancellor Olaf Scholz would lift his ban on sending Taurus air-launched missiles to Kiev. Currently there is "no reason to make a different decision," Pistorius added, speaking during a visit to a helicopter plant in Bavaria. Instead, the German military intends to provide 4,000 drones that use AI-assisted piloting, he said.

Washington informed Berlin about the policy change in advance, a German government spokesman said. The Foreign Ministry stressed that none of the German weapons donated to Ukraine is considered long-range.

Scholz has justified his refusal to give Taurus missiles to the Ukrainian military by saying that the move would make Germany a direct party to the conflict. The chancellor has been criticized for his position by some of his partners in the now-failed ruling coalition as well as some senior opposition figures.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock welcomed the reports about Biden's decision. Her party, the Greens, "sees this issue in the same way as our Eastern European partner, the British, the French and the Americans," the official said in an interview with RBB Inforadio on Monday.

Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, an MP from the Free Democratic Party (FDP) who chairs the Bundestag Defense Committee, has called the reported American move long overdue. Speaking on Deutschlandfunk radio, she urged Scholz to change his mind on Taurus donations.

The Greens and the FDP were junior partners in the coalition led by Scholz's Social Democrats, which collapsed earlier this month. The Christian Democrats, the leading German opposition party, supports sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine. Other politicians who have been critical of the entire Western approach to the conflict have enjoyed a surge in popularity this year.

Germany is widely expected to hold a snap federal election in early 2025.

See also this article: 12 Nov, 2024 Germany: Comatose and Without Sovereignty

Comment 3)
Apart from not officially authorizing long range missiles, Scholz has from the perspective of Kiev, and probably the UK, other issues:
15 Nov: Putin and Scholz hold first phone call in two years - Berlin
15 Nov: Kremlin confirms call with Germany's Scholz
15 Nov: Zelensky says he opposed Putin-Scholz call

Kiev is against Western leaders talking to Moscow about negotiating an end to the conflict

16 Nov: Lavrov questions Scholz's stance on Ukraine

In a phone call with Vladimir Putin, the German chancellor said Berlin will support Kiev "for as long as necessary"

17 Nov: Kremlin comments on Putin-Scholz call
17 Nov: Trudeau backs Scholz's call to Putin over Ukraine

The Canadian PM says Kiev can only hope to end the conflict on its own terms if it is supported by the incoming US administration

17 Nov: Germany's Scholz reveals details of Putin call

The Russian president's stance on Ukraine has not changed, the chancellor told reporters

18 Nov: UK PM reacts to Putin-Scholz call

Keir Starmer says he does not plan to follow the German chancellor's example and speak with the Russian leader

Comment 4)
The leaders of the EU alliance as a whole do not share the hesitation of the German Chancellor on the issue of missiles. At least there is:
19 Nov, 2024 14:51
EU's Borrell backs US ATACMS missiles U-turn

The bloc should follow the American lead and allow Kiev to use long-range missiles for strikes deep into Russia, the top diplomat has said

Regarding a common stance among EU nations, the bloc's foreign policy chief said this was an individual decision for each country. "Some member states are already doing that, openly, and others, they are doing it without saying it," he added.

And Nov 19: Kiev fires ATACMS missiles at Russia's Bryansk Region - MOD

Comment 5)
From the same source as the main article, there is more on the recently ruptured cables:
19 Nov, 2024 16:23
Germany suspects sabotage after damage to undersea cables

Infrastructure operators have reported two incidents, affecting several NATO states

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said on Tuesday that the rupture of two internet cables under the Baltic Sea, connecting NATO member states, appears to be a coordinated act of sabotage.

Infrastructure operators reported the severing of two separate lines on Sunday and Monday. Over the past year, several similar incidents have occurred in the area. In one such case, Finland and Estonia were quick to point the finger at Russia - only to discover later that a Chinese cargo ship's anchor had caused the breakage.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an EU ministerial meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, Pistorius referred to the latest incidents, saying: "No one believes that these cables were severed by accident."

According to Pistorius, "with this in mind, we have to state - not knowing exactly who is behind it - that we're talking about a hybrid" attack. The German defense minister added that there was a "clear indication that something is going on here."

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, along with her Finnish colleague Elina Valtonen, stated that "the fact that such an incident immediately raises the suspicion of deliberate damage speaks volumes about the instability of our time."

Cinia, a Finnish state-owned data services provider, reported the breakage of its C-Lion1 on Monday evening. The line spans some 1,173-kilometers (729 miles), connecting the Finnish capital, Helsinki, to the German city of Rostock. According to the infrastructure operator, the damaged section is situated in Swedish waters, away from the main maritime routes in the area. Cinia's representatives said they suspected anchor-related damage. A spokesperson told reporters: "at the moment, there isn't a possibility to assess the reason for the cable break."

The C-Lion1 runs close to the now-defunct Russian Nord Stream gas pipelines, which were put out of operation by several underwater explosions in September 2022. While the Western media has claimed a group of Ukrainian desperados pulled off the act of sabotage, Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have pointed the finger at the US.

On Sunday, another underwater cable - the BCS East-West-Interlink, which connects Lithuania to Sweden - was also reported to have been seriously damaged. The cause has not been identified.

Last Monday, Nikolay Patrushev, who previously led Russia's Security Council and is currently an aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, alleged that the US and UK were considering attacks on "infrastructure facilities, including undersea fiber optic cables."

Comment 6)
In the above article there was about the break that happened to the line between Helsinki and Rostock, [Rostock is in Germany, but notice the etymology: *ras-tokŭ, Slavic for "fork of a river"!]

Cinia, a Finnish state-owned data services provider, reported the breakage of its C-Lion1 on Monday evening.
[..]
According to the infrastructure operator, the damaged section is situated in Swedish waters, away from the main maritime routes in the area.

And on the same day as the above communication line rupture, there was this news from Sweden:
Nov 19: Millions of Swedes receive 'How To Survive War' booklet from government

On Monday the government of Sweden began issuing pamphlets advising its population on how to survive an unexpected disastrous war scenario, at a moment tensions are on edge with Russia, and after weekend reports saying the Biden administration has authorized Ukraine to conduct long-range missile strikes on Russian territory using US-supplied weapon systems.

In the report, Germany suspects sabotage after damage to undersea cables, there was also:

On Sunday, another underwater cable - the BCS East-West-Interlink, which connects Lithuania to Sweden - was also reported to have been seriously damaged.

Again Sweden and this time Lithuania, home for the German (again Germany)"NATO forward presence" battle group, while the UK is in Estonia, (with a border not far from Saint Petersburg), Canada in Latvia, and the US in Poland, (borders Kaliningrad).

Comment 7)
In view of what has happened in the last ten days, the claim that "US and UK considering new Nord Stream-style attacks" appears to have moved from a possibility to a reality. Besides, in another article Leaks have exposed secret British military cell plotting to 'keep Ukraine fighting' there was:

Leaked files show top UK military figures conspired to carry out the Kerch bridge bombing, covertly train "Gladio"-style stay-behind forces in Ukraine, and groom the British public for a drop in living standards caused by the proxy war against Russia.

Emails and internal documents reviewed by The Grayzone reveal details of a cabal of British military and intelligence veterans which plotted to escalate and prolong the Ukraine proxy war "at all costs." Convened under the direction of the British Ministry of Defense in the immediate aftermath of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the cell referred to itself as Project Alchemy. As British leadership sabotaged peace talks between Kiev and Moscow, the cell put forward an array of plans "to keep Ukraine fighting" by imposing "strategic dilemmas, costs and frictions upon Russia."

The leaks obtained by The Grayzone expose a hidden hand behind Britain's policy in Ukraine, showing in unusually granular detail how it aimed to engineer a long, grinding war through covert operations that stretched the bounds of legality.

Much of what goes on in our world we will probably never come to know. This also goes for the details of the recently ruptured cables in the Baltic Sea. Although there are headlines like West wants to escalate conflict - Moscow the "West" is not entirely united. Is part of the conflict against Russia aimed at damaging one or more areas of the EU? Or is it more general and global? Do we live in epic times, allowed to be witnesses as long as we are still alive?