This aerial photo provided by the Swedish Coast Guard on Sept. 28, 2022 shows a gas leak on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. (The Swedish Coast Guard/Handout via Xinhua)

　　"Western 'intelligence' and the New York Times (are) in deeper waters than usual, offering us a devious spin and fake story," said Oberg, adding that he did not "hesitate to call (the claimed theory) fake and invention and simply so dumb, improbable and unlikely."

　　STOCKHOLM, March 12 (Xinhua) -- A Swedish expert rebutted the claim made by U.S. and German media that a non-state actor was responsible for last September's Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions.

　　On Tuesday, the New York Times has cited new intelligence suggesting that a pro-Ukrainian group carried out the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines. However, the paper failed to identify a source for the claim that a rented yacht was used to perpetrate the act.

　　Aerial photo provided by the Swedish Coast Guard on Sept. 28, 2022 shows the fourth leak on Nord Stream 2 pipeline in Sweden's exclusive economic zone. (The Swedish Coast Guard/Handout via Xinhua)

　　"How stupid do they think we are? A small pro-Ukrainian group in a yacht did what?" questioned Jan Oberg, director of the Transnational Foundation for Peace and Future Research, in a recent opinion article on his personal portal.

　　"Western 'intelligence' and the New York Times (are) in deeper waters than usual, offering us a devious spin and fake story," said Oberg, adding that he did not "hesitate to call (the claimed theory) fake and invention and simply so dumb, improbable and unlikely."

　　He said that the "orchestrated mainstream Western media" having kept silent on Seymour Hersh's earlier analysis but now reporting widely on the obvious "fake" theory revealed "their journalistic and moral decay."

　　In an article published in February on the U.S. portal Substack, an investigative reporter and Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh revealed that the United States partnered with Norway in a top-secret operation in June 2022 to plant remotely triggered explosives that took out three of the four Nord Stream pipelines three months later.

　　Photo taken in Arlington of Virginia, the United States, shows a screen displaying U.S. President Joe Biden and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (not pictured) attending a press conference at the White House in Washington, D.C. Feb. 7, 2022. Joe Biden told the press conference that if Russian tanks and troops cross the border and enter Ukraine, "there will be no longer Nord Stream 2," referring to the now-finished pipeline delivering natural gas from Russia to Germany through Ukraine. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

　　Compared with Hersh's detailed and convincing revelation, Oberg dismissed the latest theory as "an invented story that comes with much less documentation, analysis and credibility than Hersh's."

　　Calling Hersh "truly independent, highly qualified, and well-connected," Oberg strongly insisted that the sabotage of Nord Stream pipelines "was done by the U.S. with some help from Norway and perhaps others."

　　Referring to comments by U.S. President Joe Biden earlier "that the U.S. would blow it up," Oberg said an "interest analysis" would also lead to an obvious conclusion of U.S. criminality.

　　"Who could have an interest in destroying this hugely important piece of energy infrastructure which also connected Europe to Russia? And who would have the technical and other capacities to do it?" Oberg asked.

　　Picture taken on Oct. 8, 2012 shows Nord Stream pipeline equipments before the opening ceremony of the North Stream second gas link in Portovaya bay, some 60 kilometers from the town of Vyborg in northwestern Russia. (Xinhua)

　　The Nord Stream pipelines, which transported natural gas from Russia to European markets via Germany, were severely damaged last September after blasts in the Baltic Sea. One pipeline, Nord Stream 1, was in operation at the time of the explosion and Nord Stream 2, though had not been operational, was filled with gas. ■