Today, RUSSTRAT Institute (Russian think tank) published a short article (in Ru) on an independent investigation into the Nord Stream attacks leading to the conclusion that most likely the direct perpetrators of the sabotage of the Nord Streams in September 2022 were the British Navy. And the sabotage itself was carried out with the knowledge of Liz Truss during her record-breaking stay at 10 Downing Street. The source was "The Nordic Times". Here is their report (w/o pictures) with a link to the researcher's detailed material at the bottom.
From the article above and a quick look at the source material, it makes sense. What seems unlikely to me is that "the US was aware of the plans to blow up the pipeline, it ultimately opposed them and instead actually tried to help German forces protect the pipelines from attack." Interestingly, that's what RUSSTRAT left out, saying instead:
But does that sentence invalidate the other findings? Not necessarily, IMO. Our Scandinavian members may know more about the sources and their claims.
FWIW.
Independent investigator: Elements of UK government behind Nord Stream attacks
New findings by Finnish 'data detective' suggest British involvement in the attacks on the gas pipelines in September 2022.
nordictimes.com
14 Feb 2024
While the Swedish government recently closed its investigation into the largest terrorist attacks on vital infrastructure in European history, stating that “no suspects have been identified”, an independent data analyst and researcher known as “Mortymer” has conducted what could be described as a thorough investigation into who carried out the Nord Stream attacks on September 26, 2022.
He presents a large amount of data that contradicts not only the official narrative that either Russia or Ukraine did it, but possibly also Seymour Hersh’s alternative yet highly acclaimed theory that it was the US that led the execution of the bombings together with Norway. According to the researcher, a careful examination of the accumulated evidence points to deep involvement of certain elements within the British government.
Relying on online data collection rather than physical evidence, Mortymer uses web crawlers to scrape, extract, and analyze virtually any information available on the Internet that is or could be relevant to the Nord Stream attacks.
The first clue: A mysterious submarine
Mortymer’s initial hypothesis was that Ukraine was behind the attacks. That however changed when he became aware of the visit of Alec Shelbrooke, then Minister of State for Defence Procurement in the Truss government, to the naval base HMNB Clyde at Gare Loch, Faslane, Scotland.
Bringing a journalist with him to the port, Shelbrooke commented on the war in Ukraine, saying, “This is our war as much as it is Ukraine’s”, and explained his views on the role of Britain and NATO in the conflict.
Shelbrooke then inspected one particular submarine, the Royal Navy’s HMS Ambush (S120), which had returned to the port a week earlier – that is one week after the Nord Stream attacks on September 26 – and met with the ship’s captain and crew.
As can be seen in the featured photo, the top of the submarine was conspicuously covered with a tarp, which according to Mortymer covers a chalfont bay, which can accommodate mini-submarines and is used by divers for exit and re-entry during deep diving missions. The fact that the bay is covered by a tarp indicates that it may have been used recently.
Mortymer also reveals that Shelbrooke was in the Royal Navy’s chain of command and at the head of the Royal Navy DTXG team, a specialized unit of the British military’s Special Boat Service (SBS).
The DTXG elite diving team
The DTXG, which stands for Diving & Threat Exploitation Group, is an elite group of Royal Navy “clearance divers” – frogmen and underwater bomb disposal experts. The group was only created in the beginning of 2022, just months before the Nord Stream attacks, as a result of a restructuring and rebranding within the Royal Navy that replaced the long-standing Fleet Diving Squadron with the DTXG.
– This once-in-a-generation transformation has enabled the Royal Navy’s Clearance Divers to be the most agile, lethal and technically advanced they have ever been, comments Commanding officer Sean Heaton on the reorganization.
In addition to relatively less dramatic tasks such as “carrying out emergency underwater maintenance on warships”, “dealing with historic explosives and improvised explosives around the UK”, and “clearing sea mines around the world” the group is also tasked with “delivering discreet special operations”.
– We recognise and embrace modern, innovative technology such as autonomous underwater vehicles and remotely operated vehicles (known as AUVs and ROVs) to deliver operations and enhance training, comments Carl Thomas, Chief Petty Officer of DTXG’s special operations team Alpha Squadron, who is excited that the group “continues to evolve and move with the times”.
DTXG probe was blocked by defence minister
Shortly after Shelbrooke’s visit to the port, a lot happened. He himself was fired and Liz Truss was forced to resign as British Prime Minister, making her the shortest serving Prime Minister in British history. Curiously, the head of the port was also fired. At the same time, Russia officially accused “British naval specialists” of being behind the attacks, prompting the British Parliament to launch an inquiry to question the DTXG, but the probe was soon blocked by Ben Wallace, then Secretary of State for Defence.
Intrigued by these striking coincidences, but wary of jumping to conclusions, Mortymer began a slow, thorough, and extensive data-gathering operation. Utilizing his data-gathering expertise, he started collecting news stories, announcements, discussions, images, videos, mentions of “Nord Stream”, “Russian gas”, and similar keywords, as well as various government policies and legal files related to the Nord Stream pipelines.
After completing this groundwork, which took about three months and, the researcher notes, was entirely legal and used only publicly available sources, he went on to analyze how the data matched statements made by government officials from what he considered to be the top 12 countries suspected of the attacks, including Russia, Ukraine, Norway, the US and the UK.
Hersh’s theory “complementary but not contradictory”
As for Seymour Hersh’s acclaimed theory that the US (together with Norway) was the perpetrator of the attacks, Mortymer’s position seems to be that while the US was aware of the plans to blow up the pipeline, it ultimately opposed them and instead actually tried to help German forces protect the pipelines from attack. In this post, Mortymer makes numerous arguments as to why Hersh’s theory often doesn’t hold up to close scrutiny. For example, he finds the idea that explosives were planted during NATO’s BALTOPS 22 exercise “very odd” because it relies on a “surface approach” rather than the “sub-surface approach” that many official investigations suggest is most likely. In another post, Mortymer writes that “Hersh’s story and data may be complementary, but not contradictory” to his own findings and conclusions.
One notable intersection between Hersh’s and Mortymer’s theories is a joint “Maritime Post-Blast Investigation Course” that took place in late January 2022 at Naval Air Station Key West, Florida, USA. During the course, Alec Shelbrooke’s DTXG worked with the FBI’s Counter-Improvised Explosive Device (C-IED) Section and three US Navy Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) teams to “expand and develop their maritime post-blast exploitation techniques through seven days of classroom instruction, diving, and strategic case study analysis”. In other words, a course in underwater post-blast forensics.
The practical aspects of the course involved participants taking part in underwater post-blast event simulations, collecting evidence to be analyzed in a mobile forensics facility. The theoretical aspects of the course involved taking parts in various workshops, such as one held by Royal Navy DTXG Commanding Officer Cdr. Sean Heaton.
He explains that a forensic investigation involves not only technical aspects, but also techniques typically associated with any crime scene, such as collecting evidence, interviewing witnesses, and making logical deductions about who and what is responsible for the attacks.
Truss: “We are cutting off the toxic power and pipelines”
While none of this constitutes “evidence” akin to a “smoking gun”, Mortymer seems sure that the hypothesis that the UK, or more specifically elements within the Truss government, were behind the Nord Stream attacks is the one that best fits the available data. Of note in this context are the statements made by Liz Truss to the UN General Assembly on September 21, 2022, just five days before the attacks.
– We are cutting off the toxic power and pipelines from authoritarian regimes and strengthening our energy resilience. We will ensure we cannot be coerced or harmed by the reckless actions of rogue actors abroad.
After attending a meeting with the Biden administration the day after, Truss unexpectedly went into hiding, only to re-emerge three days after the Nord Stream attacks had taken place.
On the same day, according to Mortymer, the UK became a net energy exporter for the first time in 44 years.
Source: ‘Nordstream Sabotage – Mortymer´s hypothesis‘.
From the article above and a quick look at the source material, it makes sense. What seems unlikely to me is that "the US was aware of the plans to blow up the pipeline, it ultimately opposed them and instead actually tried to help German forces protect the pipelines from attack." Interestingly, that's what RUSSTRAT left out, saying instead:
Vladimir Putin recently told Tucker Carlson about who exactly is behind the gas pipeline explosion. It's the United States. The Nordic Times research thus only confirms that the direct perpetrators of the pipeline sabotage were British, while the action itself was announced and authorised by Joe Biden.
"So there will be no more Nord Stream 2. We will put an end to it," was the verbatim phrase of the US president, from which his press office then tried to save him.
As for Liz Truss's cabinet, it has already gone down in history as the government whose sole task was to organise the biggest infrastructure sabotage - and, if anything, to take responsibility for it.
But does that sentence invalidate the other findings? Not necessarily, IMO. Our Scandinavian members may know more about the sources and their claims.
FWIW.