Ned Price made the remark at a media briefing on Wednesday night, Polish state news agency PAP reported.
'Russian disinformation'
The US official said: “The idea that the United States was in any way involved in the apparent sabotage of these pipelines is preposterous. It is nothing more than a function of Russian disinformation and should be treated as such.”
Suggestions of US involvement were made in view of US President Joe Biden’s statement from February, according to media reports. Biden said at the time: "If Russia invades, that means tanks or troops crossing the border of Ukraine again, there will no longer be a Nord Stream 2."
Commenting on mysterious leaks in the Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, former Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski wrote on Twitter on Tuesday: “Thank you, USA.”
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Wednesday told reporters that Biden had meant blocking Nord Stream 2 pipeline "by legal means," not by "sabotage," as cited by the PAP news agency.
'Apparent sabotage'
Meanwhile, Price said that talks held by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan with their Danish counterparts suggested that leaks in the Nord Stream pipelines may have been the result of sabotage.
Price added that Washington was “helping with the investigation” into the Nord Stream leaks.
He would not be drawn on whether the United States would treat the attack on the pipelines as an attack on NATO, triggering Article 5 of the alliance's collective defence treaty, the PAP news agency reported.
Fourth leak found on Nord Stream pipelines: Swedish coast guard
Meanwhile, Sweden’s Svenska Dagbladet newspaper reported on Thursday that the Swedish Coast Guard had discovered a fourth leak from the Nord Stream pipelines, according to the Reuters news agency.
Thursday is day 218 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Reuters, c-span.org, dziennik.pl, state.gov