The CIA warned friends about Nord Stream in advance. – WSJ

(RT) ⸻ The CIA warned allies in the EU about a potential attack by a pro-Ukrainian group on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. Around June and July of last year, the CIA informed Germany's Federal Intelligence Service (BND) and other European agencies that three Ukrainian nationals were trying to rent out ships in states around the Baltic Sea, including Sweden, in preparation to target the pipelines. As early as one month after the blasts, CIA Director William Burns and the White House's national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, were said to have been considering the possibility that Kiev had orchestrated the sabotage. German news organizations reported this week that investigators were looking at a yacht operated by a Polish-based company that was "apparently" owned by two Ukrainians, in a possible connection with the sabotage. The new reports about alleged Ukrainian involvement contradict last month's investigation by veteran journalist Seymour Hersh, who cited a source as claiming that the bombing was carried out by the US with help from Norway. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov suggested that the reports about a Ukrainian link were an attempt to divert attention from the real perpetrators and absolve NATO countries.