Money - Norway is one of Europe’s largest fossil-fuel exporters, and the conflict in Ukraine has boosted its revenues as European countries previously reliant on Russia seek alternative energy sources. However, Norway has fended off accusations that it’s profiting from the war in Ukraine
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The Nord Stream pipeline explosions released 155,000 tonnes of methane into the atmosphere / LEHTIKUVA
Seymour Hersh, an investigative journalist with a track record of breaking major stories, published a bombshell report on Substack last week that alleges the United States was behind the explosion of the Nord Stream pipelines. According to Hersh, an anonymous source with inside knowledge of the operation has confirmed that the U.S. government was involved in the planning and execution of the sabotage, which took place on September 26, 2022.
”Last June, the Navy divers, operating under the cover of a widely publicised mid-summer NATO exercise known as BALTOPS 22, planted the remotely triggered explosives that, three months later, destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines, according to a source with direct knowledge of the operational planning,” Hersh writes in his article.
According to Hersh’s source, the decision to sabotage the pipeline came directly from US president Joe Biden and was the result of a highly secretive debate that lasted for over nine months within Washington's national security community. Hersh's anonymous source claimed that the issue during the debate was not whether to carry out the mission, but how to achieve the goal without getting caught. The deliberations reportedly involved extensive planning and strategising, indicating the high level of importance placed on the issue within the national security community.
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Hersh reports that, President Joe Biden and his foreign policy team, including National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Tony Blinken, and Undersecretary of State for Policy Victoria Nuland, were strongly opposed to the Nord Stream pipelines.
✓ The two pipelines, which ran parallel to each other for 750 miles under the Baltic Sea, originated from different ports in northeastern Russia near the Estonian border, passed near the Danish island of Bornholm, and terminated in northern Germany. Biden and his team were vocal in their hostility towards the pipelines, which were seen as a means of increasing Russia's influence in Europe.
✓ READ MORE : "Hersh's report suggests that the plan was downgraded from a covert operation to a highly classified intelligence operation with U.S. military support after President Biden and Undersecretary Victoria Nuland made public comments indicating the administration's willingness to stop the Nord Stream 2 pipeline if Russia invaded Ukraine. At a press briefing that followed the visit of German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to the White House, Biden openly said, “If Russia invades . . . there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it.”
Norway urged to step up Ukraine support after profiting from war
Norwegian campaigners and luminaries say Oslo must do more after earning billions in extra oil and gas revenue
Wed 1 Feb 2023 12.06 EST
Last modified on Wed 1 Feb 2023 12.31 ESTIn a letter published in the VG tabloid, signatories including the former foreign minister Knut Vollebæk, the anthropologist Erika Fatland and Henrik Urdal of the Oslo Peace Research Institute said Norway was “the only country in Europe” to be profiting from the war.
The wealthy Scandinavian country’s oil and gas revenues have soared to record levels over the past 12 months as energy prices tripled after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Norway replaced Russia as Europe’s largest supplier of natural gas.
Compared with original estimates, Oslo’s state budget projected an additional €180bn (£160bn) in oil and gas income for 2022 and 2023, the signatories wrote, adding that the government’s public pledges of support for Ukraine over the same period amounted to just €1.27bn.
Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, has dismissed any suggestion that the country was profiteering from the war. “It’s a notion I flatly refuse”, Støre told AFP on Tuesday, adding that a major “multi-year support package” would be announced in the coming days.
The letter acknowledged more humanitarian and military support would be coming and the value of arms supplies, in particular, was hard to calculate, but said: “Either way, Norway can afford to contribute more to Ukraine than we are doing. Far more.”
Ukrainian cities and infrastructure were being reduced to rubble, the signatories wrote. “We have a duty to help Ukraine stand up to a superior military power and limit the humanitarian catastrophe.”
Norway “is contributing, but our contribution is not proportional to our unique capabilities”, they said. “It is time for Norway to use part of its accumulating wealth for the benefit of a country in desperate need of our support.”
Norway manages its immense wealth “with future generations in mind”, the letter said, but the same “has to be true also of international rule of law. It, too, must be managed and kept for our descendants. Ukraine’s struggle is our struggle”.
Oslo can “choose to contribute to Ukraine’s struggle at a level that corresponds to our capabilities”, it said. “Or we can turn away and trick ourselves into believing that some help, gradually, is all that’s within our power. If we make that choice, we are not only failing Ukraine. We are also failing ourselves.”
“This country has received enormous additional income, a huge windfall, because of Russia’s invasion,” the history professor, said. “We are in an absolutely unique position, and we should be giving much, much more.”
Støre denied Oslo was turning the war to its financial advantage, even involuntarily. “Norway has for 50 years been an explorer, at some risk, and seller of energy resources, oil and gas”, he said. “Norway does not fix the prices.”
He said a higher gas price had also led to soaring electricity bills for Norwegian families and companies, which was “politically a big challenge for us” in a country that relied heavily on electricity for industry, heating and transport.
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COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — The parliament of oil-rich Norway on Thursday announced that the Scandinavian country is donating 75 billion kroner ($7.4 billion) to Kyiv as part of a five-year support package, making Norway one of the world’s biggest donors to war-torn Ukraine.
In a video address to the 169-seat parliament, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Norway for the donation.
“You are creating a precedent for long-term financial support for a state that’s defending its independence,” Zelenskyy said.
✓ The 10 Norwegian party leaders spoke afterward to express their support to the package. Only the socialist Red Party, which has eight seats, opposed the donation, because part of the money was earmarked for weapons. No vote was held.
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The money will be split evenly between military and humanitarian assistance over five years, broken down to 15 billion kroner ($1.5 billion) annually.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine a year ago was “the first attack in Europe since World War II,” Gahr Støre said. He added that the money was from oil income, and the donation should not affect the Norwegian economy.
“This is money out of Norway that we should not use or would not use in Norway right now” he added. . ." READ MORE
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Ukraine's Zelenskiy thanks Norway for $7 bln in aid over five years
[1/3] Norway's Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shake hands before a meeting, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 1, 2022. Ukrainian Presidential Press Service/Handout via REUTERS
OSLO, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy thanked Norwegian lawmakers on Thursday for approving a bilateral aid package of some $7 billion over five years, saying Russia would never overcome the unity of Ukraine and its allies.
✓ Norway, a major petroleum exporter, has seen its government income swell to record levels following Russia's invasion of Ukraine as the price of gas sold to Europe soared last year.
The package, announced on Feb. 6, is the largest aid programme Norway has ever supplied to a single nation, and is part of an unprecedented flow of Western military aid to Ukraine meant to help it fight off Russia's invasion.
Speaking via video link from Kyiv, Zelenskiy said Norway's decision set a precedent for "sustainable support", calling it a "historic contribution".
"It makes both our countries stronger. Russia will not overcome our unity, the unity of all those that cherish freedom."
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A broad group of political parties agreed the package proposed by the minority centre-left government, with the exception of the small, Marxist-oriented Red party.
"Ukraine is not alone in this fight. Those who are here today, we are with Ukraine today," Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere said.
For 2023, half the package will fund military aid to Ukraine and the rest is to go to humanitarian assistance, although this breakdown could change in coming years."
Reporting by Gwladys Fouche in Oslo and Niklas Pollard in Stockholm, editing by Mark Heinrich
Ukraine Support Tracker
The commitments of other countries to support Ukraine. A database of military, financial and humanitarian Aid.
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