Western countries mastermind of Nord Stream attacks: Russia's SVR director Naryshkin

MOSCOW: The director of Russia's Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR), Sergey Naryshkin, has said that there is evidence, which indicates that "the West" may have been behind the disabling of the Nord Stream undersea pipelines, media reports said.

"We already have certain materials, which point to a Western trace in organizing and executing this terrorist attack," Naryshkin told journalists on Friday, RT reported.

He made the remark after explaining that Western nations were trying to cover up the incident to protect the perpetrators and masterminds, the report said.

"A number of Western nations launched a search for the ?authors' of this terrorist act pretty much the day after it happened. I believe the West is doing everything to hide the true executors and organisers of the incident," he said.

Leaks in the underwater gas route between Russia and Germany were detected this week after a rapid drop of pressure on Monday. Seismologists in Sweden detected explosions in the area, where natural gas flowing out of the pipes was later discovered by air patrols. Western and Russian officials believe the ruptures to have been caused by sabotage.

Nikolay Patrushev, the secretary of the Russia's National Security Council, stated on Friday that the US was the primary beneficiary of the disruption. He pointed to a CIA-backed attack on Nicaragua's oil infrastructure in the 1980s as a historic example of American sabotage operations, RT reported. (IANS)

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