Russian state TV seizes on Tucker Carlson claim that US is behind attack on Nord Stream pipeline

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Russian state television programmes this week were all too happy to repeat claims made by Fox News host Tucker Carlson that the United States may have had a role to play in damaging the Nord Stream pipelines.

Carlson stated on his Fox News programme on Tuesday, with no evidence, that US sabatoge could be responsible for damage to the two pipelines running from Russia to Germany. Carlson used a tweet from a Polish EU parliamentarian and a statement made by President Joe Biden in February opposing the activation of the pipeline to suggest that he may have had some role in destroying it — a position that has been much discussed on Russian television in the following days.

Nato has formally blamed sabotage for the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines, while Russia itself has said that the pipelines were likely hit by state-sponsored “terrorism.” Russia itself is among the nation states most heavily suspected of damaging the pipelines.

Carlson’s theory of US involvement, whether it has any factual basis or not, could be said to aid several different agendas. The Fox journalist himself used the theory to make the case that the Biden administration is putting American interests at risk by further antagonising Russia, while Russia can use the theory to further stoke anti-US sentiment.

According to reporting by The Washington Post, Russian television replayed or discussed portions of Carlon’s Tuesday night commentary no fewer than 12 different times on Wednesday.

Reuters on Thursday reported that Russia has said that the area in which the pipeline was damaged — off the coast of Denmark and Sweden — is “fully under the control” of US intelligence agencies.

It is not yet conclusively known who was behind the strike against the pipeline, which has long been controversial in Europe for the extent to which it has increased German and European reliance on Russian energy. Mr Biden opposed the expansion of the pipeline, Nord Stream 2, as did several his predecessors in the White House including Barack Obama and George W Bush.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz, who was long supportive of the expansion of the pipeline, suspended the project’s certification in February following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Germany is now facing the possibility of a looming energy crisis this winter, and the damage to the pipeline makes the state of its longer-term energy future that much more unclear.

While neither Nord Stream 1 or Nord Stream 2 was in operation as of this week, both are now leaking pressurised gas into the Baltic Sea. An EU official said this week that the damage “changes fundamentally the nature of the conflict as we have seen it so far.”

The EU will discuss the fate of the pipeline and other issues including a new package of sanctions against Russia at a summit next week in Prague.