It is often said that “the first casualty when war comes is the truth”. A criminal warrant just issued in Germany shows that the war continues to take its toll. However, this mandate could prove to be as great an indictment not only of Volodymyr Zelensky’s government, but also of former President Joe Biden.
This week, a German court issued an arrest warrant for Ukrainian Serhii Kuznietsov, which may finally confirm what has long been suspected: that Ukraine was responsible for sabotaging the 2022 Nord Stream pipelines in waters near Denmark and Sweden.
The Biden administration may have received advance warning. It was alleged years ago by a Ukrainian whistleblower that a six-person team of Ukrainian special forces was planning to charter a boat, dive to the bottom of the sea and blow up the Nord Stream project. The operation was allegedly led by General Valerii Zalujnyi, the commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces.
However, after the attack, the Biden administration and many in the media fueled speculation that Russia had destroyed its own pipeline, despite evidence and logic to the contrary. It was another convenient assertion of a Russian false flag operation that allowed the Biden administration to ignore the possibility that Ukraine not only engaged in environmental crimes, but also knowingly lied to its allies.
For years, some of us have questioned the Biden administration’s official account of the available evidence of those responsible.
The suggestion of a Russian attack on a Russian pipeline never seemed logical. However, the administration has funneled billions in aid to Ukraine, funding that now exceeds about $180 billion. If Ukraine sabotages the pipelines to our allies, it would not be timely, when many questioned the cost to American citizens.
The Biden administration was not the only one to step in for Ukraine, as Zelensky has denied responsibility despite mounting evidence to the contrary. When another alleged Ukrainian saboteur was found in Poland, a Polish court blocked extradition to Germany and ordered his release. The reason? The judge based the decision on Ukrainian denials. Instead, he declared that the act was committed in the name of a just war. (Poland remains the front line against Russian aggression in Europe).
An Italian court did not engage in such rationalization. He ordered the extradition of Kuznietsov, believed to be a key figure in the conspiracy. The attack involved chartering a yacht in the German port of Rostock, using fake IDs and a screen of middlemen. Kuznietsov insists he was an army captain serving in Ukraine at the time.
If the investigators are right, it wasn’t just the Ukrainian government that lied to us. Biden was also likely briefed by intelligence agencies on this evidence. Still, Biden continued to suggest that the Russians were hiding the truth. He told the audience: “The Russians are making misinformation and lies. We will work with our allies to get to the bottom of it. [of) precisely what happened] Just don’t listen to what Putin says. What he says we know is not true.”
Ironically, even if we had been told about this evidence, the public might still have supported the commitment to Ukraine. After all, Ukraine is the victim of a horrific invasion that has involved repeated accusations of war crimes against Russian forces. However, the public has a legitimate expectation that a country receiving billions in support will not engage in environmental attacks against our allies. These pipelines were in the economic zone of two NATO countries.
As the Germans work to learn the truth, the question is whether the American public will ever receive transparency about our own government’s complicity or knowledge. The public was asked to put billions into a war while the administration allegedly covered up a Ukrainian attack on a Western pipeline — and then misled the public.
The public also has a right to know whether the CIA was notified in advance that this attack was taking place and either gave tacit approval or did not tell our allies.
While Johnson is often quoted in his 1929 line about truth in war, the following was equally poignant: “this mode of propaganda by which … men become war-hungry in their patriotism and deluded in their desire to fight. We have seen it in the past; it will happen again in the future.”
It may have happened in the US, and the truth was not the only victim. The American people were treated like fools who couldn’t handle the truth.
Jonathan Turley is the Shapiro Professor of Public Interest Law at George Washington University and the best-selling author of “The Indispensable Right: Free Speech in an Age of Rage.”
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