Russia diplomat says Ukraine wouldn't have attacked Nord Stream without US approval

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's ambassador to Washington said on Friday that he did not believe Ukraine would have attacked the Nord Stream gas pipelines without the tacit approval of the United States, and that Russia would identify and punish those behind the attack.

A sharp pressure drop on the pipelines under the Baltic Sea was registered on Sept. 26, 2022 and seismologists detected explosions, triggering a wave of speculation about who sabotaged the multibillion-dollar project that carried Russian gas to Germany.

No one has claimed responsibility for the blasts, which occurred off the Danish island of Bornholm and ruptured three out of four lines of the system.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Ukraine's top military commander approved the 2022 attack on the gas pipelines despite a warning from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy not to carry out the attack.

"They seek to shift all responsibility to their Ukrainian puppets," Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov said in a statement on Nord Stream. "We will seek to identify the real perpetrators of the bombing and punish them."

Russia has repeatedly said that attack on Nord Stream was carried out by the United States and Britain. Washington and London have denied those accusations.

The New York Times, The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal have reported that Ukraine - which has repeatedly denied involvement - was behind the attack.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak on Thursday denied his country was involved, and pointed the finger at Russia.

Antonov said that there was no way that Ukraine would attack Nord Stream without "the wink" from Washington.

"In fact, we are talking about the implicit legitimisation of terrorism, even when it comes to the territory of the allies," Antonov said.

The blasts occurred in the economic zones of Sweden and Denmark. Both countries said the explosions were deliberate, but have yet to say in public who was responsible. Those countries and Germany are investigating.

(Reporting by Reuters; editing by Guy Faulconbridge and Miral Fahmy)