One of the most powerful politicians in Russia has declared that Democrat President Joe Biden “is a terrorist.”
The Speaker of the Russian parliament Vyacheslav Volodin issued a fiery response after a report by veteran American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh blamed the U.S. federal government for sabotaging the Nord Stream pipelines last year.
In response, Russia is calling for a special session of the UN security council.
Meanwhile, the German AfD party wants a parliamentary investigation into the allegations.
Volodin called the purported U.S. government sabotage of Nord Stream “an act of intimidation of its vassals, who decided to develop their economy in the interests of their own citizens.”
He demanded an international investigation to “bring Biden and his accomplices to justice.”
The nations affected by this “terrorist attack” must be paid compensation, Volodin declared.
The AfD (Alternative for Germany) party has called a special session of the German Bundestag (parliament) on the charges for Friday.
Seymour Hersh is one of the most renowned investigative journalists in the United States.
Hersh revealed the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, receiving a Pulitzer Prize in 1970.
He also reported that the CIA was involved in Watergate in 1974, and broke the Abu Ghraib scandal in Iraq in 2004.
On Wednesday, Hersh posted a story on his substack claiming that the U.S. Navy blew up the Nord Stream pipelines on September 26 last year.
“It shouldn’t be necessary to do this, but for those wondering, I can confirm this is indeed an article by Seymour Hersh, with whom I’ve been in touch during the preparation of this article,” jounalist Matt Taibbi wrote on Twitter.
It shouldn't be be necessary to do this, but for those wondering, I can confirm this is indeed an article by Seymour Hersh, with whom I've been in touch during the preparation of this article:
How America Took Out The Nord Stream Pipeline https://t.co/RxfoZOV4tf
— Matt Taibbi (@mtaibbi) February 8, 2023
Can you think of any examples from history of a secret operation that the White House was responsible for, but strongly denied? Besides, you know, that little "mass surveillance" kerfuffle. pic.twitter.com/AF1GyO2cmB
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) February 8, 2023
“Last June, Navy divers (from the U.S. Navy’s Diving and Salvage Center), operating under the cover of a widely publicized mid-summer NATO exercise known as BALTOPS 22, planted the remotely triggered explosives that, three months later, destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines, according to a source with direct knowledge of the operational planning,” Hersh writes.
Now we know why Nuland was so "gratified":
Seymour Hersh reveals how the US blew up Nord Stream 2 https://t.co/ITsRSb2xqQ https://t.co/bYO3mY2uAk
— Aaron Maté (@aaronjmate) February 8, 2023
“Two of the pipelines, which were known collectively as Nord Stream 1, had been providing Germany and much of Western Europe with cheap Russian natural gas for more than a decade,” Hersh continues.
“A second pair of pipelines, called Nord Stream 2, had been built but were not yet operational.
“Now, with Russian troops massing on the Ukrainian border and the bloodiest war in Europe since 1945 looming, President Joseph Biden saw the pipelines as a vehicle for Vladimir Putin to weaponize natural gas for his political and territorial ambitions.”
Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has called on the White House to comment on the report.
Zakharova warned that Russia intends to convene an official UN Security Council Meeting regarding the incident.
⚡️ Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on the investigation by S.Hersh:
We have repeatedly expressed Russia’s position on the involvement of the US & NATO. We also noted the reluctance of Denmark, Germany & Sweden to conduct an open investigation.
👉 https://t.co/DhvgsYBh7E pic.twitter.com/iM53mgn1e6
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) February 8, 2023
Asked for comment, Adrienne Watson, a White House spokesperson, told Hersh: “This is false and complete fiction.”
CIA spokesperson Tammy Thorp similarly wrote: “This claim is completely and utterly false.”
Speaking to the TASS news agency, Hersh affirmed the credibility of his source.
“It’s somebody who seems to know quite a bit about what was going on,” Hersh told TASS.
“I can’t name people obviously.”
“The investigation carried out by American journalist Seymour Hersh is not sensational news,” Bulgarian foreign relations expert Boyan Chukov told TASS.
“It was clear to experts almost immediately after the terrorist attack that a major state with financial, technological, and military resources was behind the explosion on the gas pipeline.”
“I have no way of verifying this particular report,” deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary-general Farhan Haq said on Wednesday.
“Obviously, it would be up to US journalists to determine the veracity of these claims.”
Hersh reports that “In December of 2021, two months before the first Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, (National Security Adviser) Jake Sullivan convened a meeting of a newly formed task force—men and women from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the CIA, and the State and Treasury Departments—and asked for recommendations about how to respond to Putin’s impending invasion…
“What became clear to participants, according to the source with direct knowledge of the process, is that Sullivan intended for the group to come up with a plan for the destruction of the two Nord Stream pipelines—and that he was delivering on the desires of the President.”
“Over the next several meetings, the participants debated options for an attack,” Hersh continues.
“The Navy proposed using a newly commissioned submarine to assault the pipeline directly.
“The Air Force discussed dropping bombs with delayed fuses that could be set off remotely.
“The CIA argued that whatever was done, it would have to be covert.
“Everyone involved understood the stakes.”
“This is not kiddie stuff,” Hersh quotes his unnamed source.
“If the attack were traceable to the United States, it’s an act of war.”
READ MORE: Russian Military Accuses Pentagon of Transferring Bioweapons Projects Out of Ukraine
