Russian State TV Suggests U.S. Is Using UFO Incidents As 'Smoke Screen'

A Russian State TV host has suggested that the U.S. is using recent UFO incidents to hide its alleged involvement in the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline.

In a video clip that was uploaded to YouTube by the Daily Beast's Julia Davis to the Russia Media Monitor channel on February 16, Russian pundits discuss the recent UFO incidents that have occurred in the U.S. in recent weeks.

The White House has confirmed that the U.S. air force has been shooting down unidentified flying objects (UFOs) across the country following a spate of sightings that began on February 1 with a high-altitude Chinese surveillance balloon.

Speaking on the show, State TV host Ivan Trushkin said: "Many are saying that the noise about these balloons, regardless of who launched them, is just a smoke screen to distract the audience sitting and watching the balloons like fools.

"What are they distracting their attention from? For example, from the story about Nord Stream [those] that investigated the explosion."

The Russian host then began to share social media posts by Donald Trump Jr., the son of former President Donald Trump, as well as whistleblower Edward Snowden.

On February 14, Donald Trump Jr. shared a picture to his Instagram page which shows a woman in a grocery store ignoring a large pink elephant behind her, with the words: "The U.S. Blew Up Nord Stream," written on it.

Facing away from the elephant, the woman is looking at a drinks shelf with the word "UFOs" written on it.

Trump Jr. caption the image: "Here's a nice shiny object to distract you from the fact that we seemingly committed an act of war against Russia. Minor details."

In Snowden's tweet, in reference to the increased talk about UFOs, he said: "It's not aliens. I wish it were aliens but it's not aliens.

"It's just the ol' engineered panic, an attractive nuisance ensuring natsec reporters get assigned to investigate balloon BS rather than budgets or bombings (à la nordstream). Until next time."

Russia has demanded that the U.S. proves it was not behind the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline that occurred in September 2022, according to a Reuters report.

In a statement released on Thursday, the Russian embassy to the United States said it considered the pipeline's destruction, that connects Russia to Western Europe, "an act of international terrorism."

The embassy referred to a blog post by a journalist Seymour Hersh who cited an unidentified source that said U.S. Navy divers had destroyed the pipelines on orders from President Joe Biden.

The White House has denied the allegations and dismissed them as "utterly false and complete fiction."

Newsweek has contacted Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for comment.