Nord Stream was a 'legitimate target' for Ukraine: Czech president
4 Min Read
The Czech president says he possesses no "clear incriminating" material connecting Kiev to the Nord Stream attack, but says pipelines are a strategic target.
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Czech Republic's President Petr Pavel walks in during his arrival at the NATO summit in Washington, Wednesday, July 10, 2024. (AP)
Petr Pavel, the president of the Czech Republic, stated that the Nord Stream pipelines were a "legitimate target" for Ukraine during its war with Russia. He has made it clear that he lacked evidence to support his claim that Kiev was indeed responsible for the attack on the energy infrastructure.
Speaking to media outlet Novinky.cz, Pavel was asked to respond to The Wall Street Journal article last week that implied Kiev was responsible for the September 2022 explosions that destroyed the pipelines used to transport Russian gas to Germany and the rest of Western Europe.
The sources for The Wall Street Journal claimed that although Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky had originally given his approval for the strike, he later attempted to cancel it due to pressure from the CIA. However, the operation was carried out nonetheless by Valery Zaluzhny, the country's military commander at the time.
The Czech president began by saying that he possesses no "clear incriminating" material connecting Kiev to the Nord Stream attack. He did however state that “when an armed conflict is waged, it is waged not only against military targets, but also against strategic targets. And pipelines are a strategic target.”
Bad consequences if Ukraine role proven
Pavel, a former NATO general, said that if the sabotage “was aimed at cutting off gas and oil supplies to Europe and [the flow of] money back to Russia, then... it would be a legitimate target,” adding, "Pipelines have always been and will always be targets because they have the potential to influence the conflict in one direction or the other."
If Ukraine's role in the act is proven, Pavel said, it may “affect the willingness of countries [in the EU] to provide assistance to Ukraine” in its war with Russia.
"On the other hand, we have no other option but to support Ukraine at this time. It is not about whether we like Ukraine or not, but about whether we want to live in a world where one country can invade another just because it is bigger and stronger,” he continued.
This week, Russia intensified its calls for Germany to provide full transparency in its investigation into the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticizing Berlin for allegedly concealing facts about the incident and insisting that Germany stop "categorically refusing to present the facts that it couldn’t have failed to discover."
A series of explosions under the Baltic Sea near the Danish island of Bornholm rendered the pipelines inoperable. Despite ongoing investigations, the perpetrators have yet to be officially identified.
Moscow has placed the blame on Washington, accusing the US of orchestrating the attack, while Kiev has suggested that Russia destroyed its own infrastructure. In contrast, sections of the Western media have speculated that a "pro-Ukrainian group" carried out the sabotage.
In a different yet related context, Pavel said any peace deal reached between Ukraine and Russia likely "won't be fair," but justice should be the objective nonetheless.
"A just peace, if we were to imagine it on a scale from 100 percent to nothing, would mean the restoration of Ukraine's full control over its territory, including Crimea. It would require that the aggressor pay compensation for war damages. But that's probably a fantasy, we can all agree," Pavel said on PoliTalk, a Czech political podcast.
"In reality, the outcome will be slightly different. [But] our objective should be to get as close as possible to a just peace," he added.
