[Hot Air] At least this narrative makes sense from the cui bono perspective. But is it true?It’s at least intriguing, in every aspect of the word. According to the Washington Post, US intel had a three-month warning that the Ukrainians would target the Nord Stream pipelines to punish Russia for its invasion and stop them from funding it from energy sales. The Biden administration learned of this through an intermediary European intel service, which the Post declines to name. The details have already been exposed in the Jack Teixeira leaks, however:
The European intelligence reporting was shared on the chat platform Discord, allegedly by Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira. The Washington Post obtained a copy from one of Teixeira’s online friends.Hmmm. It still comes down to a single source, albeit one that emerged prior to the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines. The source’s information couldn’t be corroborated either, which makes this sound more like rumor than actual fact. Still, the US passed the intel to the Germans in June 2022; the attack happened three months later. Presumably, the asset had enough credibility with the originating intel agency for the CIA to also take it seriously, or they would have kept it on the shelf.
The intelligence report was based on information obtained from an individual in Ukraine. The source’s information could not immediately be corroborated, but the CIA shared the report with Germany and other European countries last June, according to multiple officials familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence operations and diplomatic discussions.
The highly specific details, which include numbers of operatives and methods of attack, show that for nearly a year Western allies had a basis to suspect Kyiv in the sabotage. That assessment has only strengthened in recent months as German law enforcement investigators uncovered evidence about the bombing that bears striking similarities to what the European service said Ukraine was planning.