Moscow challenges EU to investigate US over alleged pipeline sabotage — RT Russia and the former Soviet Union

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova asked who the EU would punish with the « strongest answer possible » for damage to Nord Stream gas pipelines. The diplomat said a Polish politician had identified the United States as the party behind the apparent sabotage.

Both Nord Stream pipelines were badly damaged this week in what is believed to have been a deliberate attack.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday called The Incident « act of sabotage » and warned that « Any deliberate disruption of active European energy infrastructure is unacceptable and will lead to the strongest possible response. »

On Wednesday, Zakharova asked who exactly the warning would apply to.

» I don’t understand. MEP Sikorski thanked the US for what happened, so who is Ursula ‘threatening’ there? she wrote on social media.

Zakharova was referring to the reaction to the incident by former Polish foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski, now an EU lawmaker, who posted a photo of the site where the blasts happened on Twitter with the words: « Thank you, United States. » He described the incident as a “special maintenance operation”.

Sikorski added that « there is no shortage of pipeline capacity to deliver gas from Russia to Western Europe, including Germany », referring to the Yamal-Europe overland gas pipeline that crosses Belarus and Poland. After the Nord Stream ropes were damaged, Russian President Vladimir Putin « will have to talk to the controlling countries » the alternative route to resume supplies, he predicted.

Zakharova earlier asked if Sikorski’s tweets amounted to a « official statement that it was a terrorist attack. » Meanwhile, Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, thanked Sikorski for « To make it perfectly clear who stands behind this terrorist-like targeting of civilian infrastructure! »

Threats from some Western countries against Russian undersea pipelines, especially Nord Stream 2 before and after late February, when Moscow sent troops to Ukraine, have not been lacking. It has been ready to pump gas since September last year, but has not been commissioned due to Germany’s refusal to certify it. Polish President Andrzej Duda demanded last month that the pipeline be « totally scrapped ».

US President Joe Biden warned in early February, before Russia began its military operation in Ukraine, that if Moscow acted against kyiv, « There will be no more Nord Stream 2. We will end it. » A reporter asked him to clarify what exactly he meant, to which Biden replied: « I promise you we can do it. »

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken commented on the incident on Tuesday, saying the attack on Russian pipelines was « in nobody’s interest. »