(Moscow) Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday accused the Anglo-Saxons of being behind the “explosions” that caused major leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines, built to transport Russian gas to Europe.
Posted at 9:56 a.m.
“By staging explosions on the international gas pipelines that run along the bottom of the Baltic Sea, they have actually begun to destroy Europe’s energy infrastructure”, lambasted Vladimir Putin during a speech in the Kremlin, blaming this “sabotage” on the “Anglo-Saxons”.
According to the Russian president, the United States “is pressuring” European countries to completely cut off their supply of Russian gas “in order to seize (themselves) the European market”.
Before the start of the conflict with Ukraine at the end of February, Russian gas represented 40% of annual gas deliveries to the European Union, a figure which fell to 9% at the beginning of September according to Brussels.
Thursday, Vladimir Putin had already denounced to his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan the alleged attacks having targeted Nord Stream 1 and 2 in the Baltic Sea, an “act of international terrorism” according to him.
The Kremlin also said it suspected the “involvement” of a foreign state in the four leaks detected, without however naming a particular country.
Itself suspected of being the source of the leaks, Russia had counter-attacked on Wednesday, pointing the finger at the United States and obtaining a meeting of the UN Security Council on Friday. Washington denounced in return a new “disinformation” operation by Moscow.
The gas should continue to escape into the atmosphere for several more days until the two gas pipelines, Nord Stream 1 and 2, empty.
According to Sweden and Denmark, the leaks are due to underwater explosions corresponding to “hundreds of kilos of TNT”, they indicated on Friday in an official report submitted to the United Nations.