American warships were operating in the area with their transponders switched off, Politiken has reported

US Navy vessels were operating at the scene shortly before the explosions that crippled the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Baltic Sea, Danish newspaper Politiken has reported, citing a local harbormaster.

The crucial energy infrastructure, built to deliver Russian gas to Germany and the rest of Europe, was ruptured by underwater blasts in September 2022.

The piece by Politiken was published on September 26 but largely went unnoticed. However, it resurfaced on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday, with claims being reposted by Glenn Greenwald and other prominent independent journalists.

According to the article, American warships had been operating in the area east of the Danish island of Bornholm with their transponders switched off.

The paper spoke to John Anker Nielsen, the harbormaster at the Danish port of Christianso, located near Bornholm. He said he had decided to share details of the events of September 2022, despite initially being “not allowed to say a thing” about them.

According to Nielsen, he launched a rescue operation in the area four or five days before the Nord Stream blasts after spotting ships with their transponders switched off and assuming there was an emergency.

However, when Danish rescuers approached the scene, they saw that the vessels in question were US Navy ships, Nielsen said. The Naval Command then told Nielsen and his colleagues to turn back, the harbormaster recalled.

DETAILS TO FOLLOW