Before Nord Stream Exploded, CIA Already Knew and Initially Agreed
American intelligence had in fact known about Ukraine’s plans to sabotage the Nord Stream pipeline much earlier than previously reported. This is according to the latest findings by Der Spiegel, the German news magazine, which cited anonymous sources in its report.
According to the magazine, Ukrainians linked to the Nord Stream sabotage were in contact with individuals connected to the CIA as early as spring 2022 in Kyiv, where they discussed their intentions. The CIA-connected sources reportedly listened with interest and raised no objections.
Further meetings followed, during which technical details of the planned operation were discussed. By the second meeting, the Ukrainian participants had gained the impression that the Americans might assist with the financial aspect of the plan.
However, the Americans subsequently changed their position. By early summer, Washington began to discourage the Ukrainian group from carrying out the sabotage plan and refused to provide financing.
In June 2022, Dutch intelligence reportedly received information from a source in Ukraine about plans for the attack. This intelligence was forwarded to both the CIA and German intelligence services, with the United States also passing the information on to Germany.
In response to a request for comment, a CIA spokesperson described the information from anonymous sources as “completely false.”
Previously, The Wall Street Journal had reported that the CIA had explicitly asked for the Nord Stream sabotage operation to be halted, but this request was ignored. According to that report, former Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi disregarded President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s order to stop the operation — an order Zelenskyy himself had issued following the CIA’s request.
After Zaluzhnyi ignored the directive, the team he had assembled modified the original plan and proceeded with the operation.
The plan to blow up Nord Stream had initially been approved by Zelenskyy within a matter of days. All orders pertaining to the operation were reportedly given orally so as to leave no documentary evidence.
The explosions in the two Russian gas export pipeline networks to Europe — Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 — occurred on 26 September 2022.