No, Blinken didn’t say Biden is responsible for Nord Stream leaks

Europe is investigating what caused several recent leaks in the Nord Stream pipeline network that runs from Russia to Europe. On Oct. 5, a German government spokesperson said sabotage is suspected. 

The German newsmagazine Der Spiegel reported the same day that the country’s federal police believe state actors were probably involved.  

Russia has tried to implicate the United States in the leaks, and a recent Facebook post echoes this. 

A video in the post is titled "Blinken confesses that Biden did it," and over several minutes, a woman in the video makes the case that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s comments during a press conference Sept. 30 shows him conceding that the United States "deliberately destroyed the Nord Stream pipelines."

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"Theories abound that the U.S. is to blame," the woman in the video says before adding that "statements of Mr. Blinken’s solidify these theories." 

She then points to remarks Blinken made during a press conference featuring Blinken and Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly and how Blinken described the situation as a "tremendous opportunity." 

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stated on December 10, 2024 in an Instagram post

“Dr. Assad will return to ophthalmology after being deposed as president of Syria and plans to set up an eye clinic in Russia.”

But nowhere did he suggest Biden is to blame for the leaks. 

A reporter at the press conference asked Blinken and Joly how their respective countries would ease energy supply problems in following the leaks. Blinken talked about working with European partners "to make sure that there is enough energy on world markets,"  keep oil prices down, decrease energy demand and transition to renewable energy.  

"Ultimately," Blinken then said, "this is also a tremendous opportunity. It’s a tremendous opportunity to once and for all remove the dependence on Russian energy and thus take away from Vladimir Putin the weaponization of energy as a means of advancing his imperial designs. That’s very significant and that offers tremendous strategic opportunity for the years to come, but meanwhile, we’re determined to do everything we possibly can to make sure that the consequences of all of this are not borne by citizens in our countries or, for that matter, around the world." 

We rate claims that this shows Blinken admitting Biden caused the leaks False.