The Nord Stream pipelines were most likely sabotaged as a false flag operation, as "Russia wants to use this to say we're now at war with the West," retired U.S. Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt, a Newsmax military contributor, said Saturday.
"I think the Swedish have got it nailed," Holt, a former U.S. Deputy military representative to NATO, said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America."
"Signatures in the water give away all of the information. You can discern a whale or an earthquake from a bomb going off and that's what these were. It was sabotaged."
Russian President Vladimir Putin claims the United States or its Western allies sabotaged the pipeline, but Holt said that explanation is not logical.
"Why would that be so, with the United States risking blowing up these pipelines and then destroying NATO unity and never having an alliance with Germany ever again?" said Holt. "I don't think so."
Three separate leaks were discovered Monday in the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines from Russia to Germany and The North Atlantic Council, the decision-making body for NATO, while not naming a culprit in a statement, threatened a military response against the responsible party, reports The National Review.
"All currently available information indicates that this is the result of deliberate, reckless, and irresponsible acts of sabotage," the statement said. "Any deliberate attack against Allies’ critical infrastructure would be met with a united and determined response."
Sweden's security has also opened an investigation into the leaks, calling them an act of "gross sabotage."
Holt said that NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg has a "good handle" on the matter, but "it's getting very serious. It's going to get more dangerous."
Meanwhile, the hostilities in Ukraine have ramped up with Russia's annexation of four provinces, and Holt on Saturday said the actions are like those when Crimea was annexed, but on a "much grander scale and the situation has greatly changed."
Putin, he added, gave a "chilling speech" Friday that represents the "great possibility of escalation in this war, not from just Ukraine but to the West."
Putin's push to enlist thousands more troops from Russia are being met with strong resistance, including people trying to flee the country or even maim themselves to avoid being sent to Ukraine, noted Holt.
"The Russian people are not buying this war or the rationale for it," he said. "The fighting-age men have seen and they've all heard stories … they all know people who have died in this war, and so they don't want to be a part of it. And yet they're going to throw these people into these so-called referendum-occupied territories that are now Russian, only to see a potential of this conflict careening out of control."
Putin "ranted on everything from Peter the Great stuff, and he called the West Anglo-Saxons and hearkened back to every grievance the Russians ever had," Holt added. "But more importantly, he accused the West of blowing up those pipelines. We need to watch that very carefully."
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