United States President Joe Biden on Friday calls out Russian President Vladimir Putin on the Nord Stream pipeline leak, calling it a "deliberate act of sabotage."
On Friday, the Democratic leader accused Russia and Putin of spreading misinformation and lies regarding the issue but did not directly accuse Moscow of being responsible for the leaks. Biden's remarks are the first time that he has directly asserted that the pipeline's leaks are a result of sabotage and not merely an accident.
Nord Stream Pipeline Leaks
The remarks also push back against Russia's narrative about the incident in the middle of Moscow's alleged efforts to claim more of Ukraine's territory. The leaks were discovered on Monday, prompting investigations by European authorities that determined powerful underwater explosions occurred just before the pipelines burst in multiple places.
The Democratic president said that the United States is working with its allies to determine precisely what happened with the pipelines. Biden said he has already directed resources to assist allies and enhance the protection of the pipelines, which are responsible for funneling gas from Russia into the European Union, as per CNN.
Biden also said that the time is right and when things calm down, they would be sending the divers down to figure out exactly what happened with the pipelines. Western nations continue to claim that the leaks in Nord Stream 1 and 2 are most likely the result of sabotage.
However, up to this moment, US officials have been mostly circumspect compared to their European counterparts in drawing conclusions about the incident. On Friday, Putin claimed, "Anglo-Saxons" were responsible for the explosions, saying that sanctions were not enough and the Anglo-Saxons switched to sabotage.
According to Yahoo News, the situation comes as Tucker Carlson, the host of Fox News, citing the allegations of Russia damaging its own pipelines, criticized Putin if he actually did order the explosions.
Vladimir Putin's Threats
Carlson pointed to Biden's remarks from February, where the Democratic leader opposed the activation of the pipeline. At the time, the US president said that if Putin invades, there will no longer be a Nord Stream 2, and the American government will put an end to it.
The remarks were made as the US sought to tighten its economic pressure on Russia before the war on Ukraine started. Carlson then misconstrued the remarks and twisted them into Biden saying, "We will blow it up."
Soon after Carlson's remarks, the claim was then promoted by far-right influencers in the United States and pushed by the network of Russian state media networks, despite the lack of credible evidence that US warships or operatives had taken part in the incident.
The pipeline situation comes as Biden also warned Putin against making any threat to NATO territory as the Russian president escalates his war against Ukraine. The US president said that America is fully prepared, along with its NATO allies, to defend every single inch of NATO territory.
Biden's remarks were made hours after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his country is submitting an "accelerated" application to join the military alliance. The US president added that NATO will not be intimidated by Putin and his "reckless words and threats," CNBC reported.
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