Russia says NATO should hold emergency summit over Nord Stream blasts

NATO should hold an emergency meeting to discuss recent findings about September explosions at the Nord Stream gas pipelines, Russia's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said late on Saturday.

Investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1970, said in a blog post on Wednesday, citing an unidentified source, that US navy divers had destroyed the pipelines, with explosives on the orders of President Joe Biden.

The White House dismissed as "utterly false and complete fiction" the claim that the United States was behind explosions of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, which send Russian gas to Germany.

Nordic counties respond

Sweden and Denmark, in whose exclusive economic zones the blasts occurred, have concluded the pipelines were blown up deliberately, but have not said who might be responsible.

The United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have called the incident "an act of sabotage." Moscow has blamed the West for the unexplained explosions that caused the ruptures. Neither side has provided evidence.

"There are more than enough facts here: the explosion of the pipeline, the presence of a motive, circumstantial evidence obtained by journalists," Zakharova said on the Telegram messaging platform.

"So when will an emergency NATO summit meet to review the situation?"

NATO did not immediately respond to Reuters request for a comment.