(VOVWORLD) -Western countries have urged caution when drawing conclusions about who was behind last year’s explosions to sabotage Russia's Nord Stream gas pipeline.
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NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said no perpetrator has yet been identified, adding that there are ongoing national investigations and it’s best to wait until those are completed.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius on Wednesday warned against hasty conclusions about the sabotage. He said it’s necessary to investigate whether the perpetrators acted independently or under the direction of the Ukrainian government.
The comments came after the New York Times quoted an anonymous American official as saying that ‘a pro-Ukraine sabotage group’ was behind the Nord Stream pipeline explosions in September, 2022.
The New York Times said new intelligence reviewed by US officials suggests that a group loyal to Ukraine but acting independently of the government in Kyiv were involved in the operation. Information sources say the perpetrators might be Ukrainian or Russian citizens or both, but no American or British citizens were involved.
German media reported that the perpetrators were six people, including one woman, who used fake passports.
After the explosions six months ago, experts discovered four gas leaks in the Nord Stream pipelines 1 and 2. Two locations were in the Exclusive Economic Zone of Sweden and two within Denmark’s Exclusive Economic Zone.