Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin found it unusual that mainstream Western media outlets wholeheartedly accept the claim by unnamed US officials that a “pro-Ukrainian group” was responsible for the bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
At Wednesday’s press conference, Wang described the pipelines as “vital cross-border infrastructure projects”, whose destruction had a “a serious impact on the global energy market and the ecological environment.” China wants “an objective, impartial and professional investigation” in the attack and those responsible held accountable, the sooner the better, he added.
Asked to comment on so-called ‘Ukrainian theory’, first presented by anonymous US officials in The New York Times last weekWang noted the sudden change in behavior of Western media, after spending a month ignoring journalist Seymour Hersh’s report that blamed the United States and Norway.
“We have noted that some Western media remained mysteriously silent after Hersh reported that the United States was behind the Nord Stream explosion. But now these media are unusually concurrent in making their voices heard. would they explain such an anomaly? Is there something hidden behind the scene? Wang said.
Nord Stream 1 and 2, pipelines built under the Baltic Sea to transport Russian natural gas to Germany and Western Europe, were damaged in a series of explosions in September 2022.
In early February, Hersh published a report detailing how Washington had the pipelines destroyed, describing how American divers planted the explosives and how a Norwegian plane sent the detonation signal. The US government has denied all charges, calling Hersh’s report “totally false and complete fiction”, while Russia and China called for an independent and transparent investigation.
The Times report cited unnamed US officials who suggested the saboteurs were “most likely Ukrainian or Russian nationals, or a combination of both”, citing new unspecified information. The unnamed officials insisted that no US or UK nationals were involved and that there was no evidence that President Vladimir Zelensky or any other Ukrainian official led the attack. Kyiv has officially denied any responsibility for the Nord Stream explosions.
When shown the Times article during an interview, Hersh laughed and asked “Are they so stupid? » referring to anonymous outlet sources. Nevertheless, the story was dutifully repeated by all major Western media outlets.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was not convinced either. During an interview with Russia-1 on Tuesday, he dismissed as “completely absurd” the idea that non-state actors might be behind the complex act of sabotage. The attacks could only be “made by specialists, and supported by all the power of a state possessing certain technologies”, he said.
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