Polish EU lawmaker deletes 'thank you, USA' over Nord Stream tweet

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European Parliament member and former Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski have deleted the "Thank you, USA" tweet he posted in the aftermath of the explosions that affected Russia's Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines earlier in the week.

On Tuesday, Sikorski tweeted "Thank you, USA," along with a picture of the massive gas spill in the Baltic Sea. Off the shore of the Danish island of Bornholm, both pipelines sustained significant damage in what is now largely seen as a premeditated attack.

He had no reservations about who could have been responsible for Monday's Nord Stream pipeline explosion that shut off Germany from Russian gas.

However, Sikorski did not delete another tweet that read "As we say in Polish, a small thing, but so much joy" with the same picture of the bubbling water attached.

The tweet drew much controversy, with many social media users wondering what Warsaw's former top diplomat meant by tweeting it.

Later, Sikorski tweeted in Polish that if Russia wants to continue supplying gas to Europe, it must "talk to the countries controlling the Brotherhood and Yamal gas pipelines, Ukraine and Poland." 

In response, spokesperson for the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova questioned if Sikorsky's tweet constituted an "official statement that this was a terrorist attack."

💬 Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria #Zakharova: ex Polish FM, now European MP @radeksikorski has thanked the US for today's incident at the Russian gas pipeline (Nord Stream 2).

Is it an official statement on this being a terrorist attack? https://t.co/QnGc10kNCq

— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) September 27, 2022

Sikorski is not just any MEP; he was formerly a citizen of the UK, a fellow at multiple US and NATO think tanks, and Poland's former defense (2005-2007), and foreign minister (2007-2014). 

He was forced to retract a statement he had made in October 2014 after it was revealed that he had made up the claim that Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to divide Ukraine with Warsaw.

In January 2022, Sikorski referred to Russia as a "serial rapist," and in June, he told Ukraine's Espreso TV that NATO had the right to provide Kiev with nuclear weapons.

The Swedish National Seismic Network (SNSN) reported powerful underwater explosions in the area of gas leaks from the Nord Stream pipeline on Tuesday.

SNSN Director Bjorn Lund said as quoted by SVT that "there are no doubts that these were explosions."

Denmark's maritime traffic agency and Sweden's Maritime Authority reported on Monday a "dangerous" gas leak in the Baltic Sea close to the route of the inactive Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which experienced an unexplained drop in pressure.

The leak, southeast of the Danish island of Bornholm, "is dangerous for maritime traffic" and "navigation is prohibited within a five nautical mile radius of the reported position," the agency warned in a notice to ships.

Read more: Kremlin hints at sabotage as possible cause of Nord Stream damage

It was revealed yesterday that US military helicopters habitually and on numerous occasions circled for hours over the site of the Nord Stream pipelines incident near Bornholm Island earlier in September.

Flightradar24 data showed that earlier this month, a US Navy Sikorsky MH-60R Seahawk helicopter spent hours loitering over the location of the damaged natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea near Bornholm for several days in a row, September 1, 2, and 3, in particular.