Moscow
\nThe United States should try to prove it was not behind the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipelines that connected Russia to Western Europe, the Russian embassy to the United States said on Thursday.
\nMoscow considers the destruction of Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines last September \u201can act of international terrorism\u201d and will not allow it to be swept under the rug, the embassy said in a statement.
\nThe embassy referred to a blog post by journalist Seymour Hersh citing an unidentified source as saying that US Navy divers had destroyed the pipelines with explosives on the orders of President Joe Biden.
\nThe White House has dismissed the allegations as \u201cutterly false and complete fiction.\u201d
\nUS Department of State spokesman Ned Price said on Wednesday \u201cit is pure disinformation that the United States was behind what transpired\u201d with Nord Stream, provoking the fresh Russian comment.
\nFour large gas leaks were discovered on Nord Stream\u2019s two pipelines off the Danish island of Bornholm at the end of September, with seismic institutes recording two underwater explosions just prior.
\nInvestigators had already said that preliminary inspections had reinforced suspicions of sabotage.
\nWhile the leaks were in international waters, two of them were in the Danish exclusive economic zone and two of them in Sweden\u2019s.
\nAt the end of October, Nord Stream sent a Russian-flagged civilian vessel to inspect the damage in the Swedish zone.
\nThe pipelines, which connect Russia to Germany, have been at the center of geopolitical tensions as Russia cut gas supplies to Europe in suspected retaliation to Western sanctions over Moscow\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.
\nAlthough the pipelines were not in operation when the leaks occurred, they both still contained gas which spewed up through the water and into the atmosphere.
\nWashington and Moscow have both denied any involvement and each has pointed the finger at the other.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Moscow The United States should try to prove it was not behind the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipelines that connected Russia to Western Europe, the Russian embassy to the United States said on Thursday. Moscow considers the destruction of Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines last September \u201can act of international […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314214,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-314194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n