Foreign
UKRAINIAN Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov has denied his country’s involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines.
“This is not our activity,’’ Reznikov said at a meeting of EU defence ministers on Wednesday in Stockholm.
He expressed confidence in ongoing international probes on the matter.
An investigation from German public broadcasters ARD and SWR and Die Zeit newspaper linked Ukraine to the September 2022 explosions at the two gas pipelines running between Russia and Germany.
Authorities in Germany, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands and the United States (U.S.) were involved in the investigations, Die Zeit reported.
According to the media reports, including the New York Times, investigators have so far found no evidence of who ordered the destruction.
However, citing intelligence leads, they said a pro-Ukrainian group could be responsible.
The Times reported that the U.S. has “no evidence’’ linking the attack to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky or his top aides.
Reznikov said he was not concerned that the reports could put a dent in Western support for Ukraine.
German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said it was important to distinguish if the Ukrainian group was acting “without the knowledge of the government’’ in Ukraine.
Pistorius also cautioned against jumping to conclusions and warned the sabotage may have been a false flag operation.
In a so-called false flag operation, perpetrators deliberately laid false tracks that pointed to other actors as a form of misdirection.
The mysterious explosions at the Baltic Sea pipelines connecting Russia to Germany occurred in September 2022.
Neither pipeline was actually delivering gas at the time because of the energy stand-off between the European Union and Russia.
Moscow had denied being behind the incident and pointed at the U.S., as the most to benefit from an attack on the energy infrastructure. (dpa/NAN)
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Tags: Defence Minister Boris Pistorius Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov President Volodymyr Zelensky
