New information verified by US officials suggests that a pro-Ukrainian group is responsible for the explosions that shut down the Nord Stream gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea last year, The New York Times reports.

However, officials in Washington say they see no evidence that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, other senior officials in Kyiv or members of the Ukrainian government ordered the attack, which took place last September.

A review of the new information suggests that opponents of President Vladimir Putin were responsible for the act of sabotage, but US officials declined to tell the NYT who directed or paid for the operation.

They stress that the conclusion is not unequivocal and that the possibility that a “proxy force” linked to the Ukrainian government or its security services was behind the attack has not yet been ruled out.

American officials quoted by the NYT also say that, despite the speculation that has arisen on this matter, the evidence collected so far does not indicate the involvement of the Russian state in organizing the sabotage. Immediately after the attack, Ukraine directly accused Moscow of being behind the attack to further destabilize Europe’s energy market before winter.

Many unknowns are related to the explosions that disabled the Nord Stream gas pipelines

In December, the American newspaper The Washington Post also noted that there is no clear evidence of the alleged involvement of the Russian state in the attack.

So far, the NYT’s interlocutors say that the information they have verified indicates that the saboteurs were most likely citizens of Russia or Ukraine, or both.

Most likely, the explosives were planted with the help of experienced divers who, it seems, do not work for special services or military structures. But US officials say they may have received government training in the past.

Officials in Washington stressed to the NYT that there are still a lot of unknowns about the attack, and both United States and European intelligence agencies are still trying to figure out what happened.

But they also say the new information could be the first major clue emerging from several top-secret investigations, the results of which could have profound implications for the pro-Ukraine coalition.

Russia is not going to repair Gazprom’s gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea

The new information came after Reuters reported last Friday, citing several sources familiar with the situation, that Moscow has no intention of repairing Gazprom’s gas pipelines, as it does not anticipate improving relations with the West in the near future.

Instead, they should be sealed and sealed for safekeeping.

One Reuters source said that Moscow considers the Nord Stream project “buried”. But the other two said that while there are no plans to repair them, they will be sealed and preserved for possible reactivation in the future.

A separate source confirmed to the German news agency that the projects’ shareholders are considering the possibility of preservation. This will most likely mean sealing the pipes and applying an anti-corrosion coating to protect them from seawater.

One of the Russian sources claims that if the price of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which Europe imports from the US, rises significantly, offices in the west of the continent may once again be ready to resume imports from Russia.

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