Russian President Vladimir Putin said reports that Ukrainian activists were involved in the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions in the Baltic Sea were “utter nonsense”. “Only specialists” could carry out such an action on this scale and on this scale, Putin said yesterday in a television interview. “It also includes support from a state that has the appropriate technology.”
Specifically, Putin declined to comment on the authorship of the explosions. But you always have to question who might be interested in that. “And who is interested? In theory, the United States may have an interest in preventing Russian energy sources from entering the European market,” the Kremlin chief said.
Supposedly evidence of another explosive device
According to Putin, a Gazprom ship also discovered evidence of the presence of another explosive device in the pipeline. This is about 30 kilometers away from one of the explosion sites. At the tube junction, something was detected that experts believe “could be an antenna to receive a signal to detonate an explosive device”.
Last September, there were explosions on three of the four sections of the two “Nord Stream” gas pipelines located at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Germany, Sweden and Denmark started investigations. A few days ago, the media in Germany, the United States and Great Britain published information about the possible course of events. According to this, a group of six people with false passports would have rented a yacht and unnoticedly placed the explosive devices in a depth of water of a good 80 meters.
The media had speculated about the alleged involvement of a pro-Ukrainian group. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called Ukraine’s participation “ridiculous”. On the other hand, there was also speculation that Russia itself could be responsible for the explosion.