Berlin, Jun. 8, (dpa/GNA) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has denied his government’s involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines in remarks to the titles of German publishing group Axel Springer.
“I am the president and I give orders accordingly. Nothing of the sort has been done by Ukraine. I would never act that way,” Zelensky said, asking for proof of Ukrainian involvement.
The Ukrainian leader’s remarks published on Wednesday were made in response to an article which appeared on Tuesday in the Washington Post.
The Washington Post had reported that the US government learned from a European intelligence agency of a secret plan by Ukraine’s military to attack the pipelines using divers, who reported directly to the commander-in-chief of the armed forces three months before the September 2022 explosions.
The Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 were both badly damaged by the explosions which blasted a total of four holes in the pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm. The undersea pipelines carried natural gas from Russia to Germany.
Russia seized on the reports on Thursday and insisted on an investigation into the blasts.
There must be a “transparent, international and urgent investigation into what is going on now,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Moscow had always rejected accusations from the West that it had blown up the pipelines itself.
Although the US government initially could not independently confirm the reports, it still shared the information with the intelligence services of Germany and other countries, according to the Washington Post. Members of Germany’s lower house of parliament, the Bundestag, were also subsequently informed.
Research by the German public broadcasters NDR, WDR and the Süddeutsche Zeitung broadsheet had also recently come to the conclusion that several leads in the case head in the direction of Ukraine.
Their reports said that there were suspected letterbox companies and a person with possible connections to the Ukrainian military.
Neither the Federal Prosecutor’s Office nor the German federal government has commented on the reports.
“We do not know to what extent such publications correspond to reality,” Peskov said, according to the Russian state news agency TASS. But he said it was clear that it was a “messy affair” that needed to be uncovered in detail.
The explosions are widely believed to have been an act of sabotage, although it remains unclear who carried out the attack.
Germany, Sweden and Denmark are each conducting investigations.
US National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby on Tuesday had declined to comment on the Washington Post report.
“I’m certainly not going to engage in a discussion about the intelligence matters here from the podium,” Kirby told reporters during a press briefing. “And in this case, certainly not going to speak to one that the Washington Post even said was not corroborated by US intelligence agencies.”
Berlin-headquartered Axel Springer is one of Europe’s largest publishing houses and its titles include the mass-circulation daily Bild tabloid, Die Welt broadsheet and the US-based Politico.
GNA