Germany cannot prove Russia sabotaged Nord Stream pipelines - reports
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Germany says it is unable to prove that Russia had a hand in sabotaging the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
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An aerial picture of the gas leak in the Baltic Sea, taken from an F-16 fighter jet belonging to the Danish Armed Forces (Danish Defense Ministry)
The German investigators probing the explosions that hit Russia's Nord Stream pipelines do not have any evidence at hand proving that Russia is behind the catastrophic blasts that took place in the Baltic Sea in September 2022, said German Attorney General Peter Frank on Saturday, German newspaper Die Welt reported.
Frank revealed that two research ships took water and soil samples, as well as the remains of the pipelines, noting that the whole incident was "comprehensively documented". "We are currently evaluating all of this forensically."
The explosions took place in international waters in the Exclusive Economic Zones of Denmark and Sweden. Both countries are conducting their own investigations. "But we are in contact," said Frank.
However, Denmark and Sweden have barred Russia from investigating the attack. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said this exclusion highlighted the West's double standards.
With the anniversary of the Ukraine war nearing, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was asked about Russia's plans to mark this date. The Foreign Minister noted that there were many things that need to be remembered and demonstrated that would depict how the US establishes its hegemony.
"We are preparing a sort of a report of what happened this year, what we managed to discover, and this is not only the US military biological programs, from which they are trying to disown, they lie, as always, and not only the direct participation of the United States in the explosions at Nord Stream," Lavrov said.
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Lavrov said that the statements made by Victoria Nuland, the US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, concerning the Nord Stream pipeline explosions show that Washington was complicit in the incident.
Nuland said that "the [US] administration is very gratified to know that Nord Stream 2" would no longer be operational.
Based on that, Lavrov even went further and said, "And this is not only the direct participation of the United States in the explosions of the Nord Streams. Now Mrs. Nuland has, in fact, turned herself in.”
Nord Stream AG reported that on September 26, three threads of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 offshore gas pipelines sustained unprecedented damage. Two explosions were later recorded along the Nord Stream pipelines, according to Swedish seismologists.
Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the situation on the West. "It’s clear to everyone who benefits from this. And the one who benefits from this is the one who did it," Putin stressed at the time.
This came after the Swedish National Seismic Network (SNSN) reported powerful underwater explosions in the area of gas leaks from the Nord Stream pipeline on September 27.
