BELGRADE, March 7. /TASS/. The destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipelines has stopped the production of fertilizers in Europe and partially shut down the industry on the continent, Dusan Bajatovic, General Director of Srbijagas, said at the Kopaonik business forum on Tuesday.

"We are all aware that Nord Stream was destroyed to put some kind of geostrategic pressure on Europe. I would not like to elaborate on this, but these volumes are not enough. A significant part of the industry has been shut down, production of fertilizers has stopped, and illegal goods are being smuggled. The Greeks will become even richer if they draw up papers this way, the Indians are buying six times more oil. Russia is second in drug sales and first in the world in the sale of energy resources. What kind of oil is bought? Russian oil," he stressed.

"Europe is paying a high price for following the policies now in place," Bajatovic said.

About sabotage on Nord Stream pipelines

On September 27, 2022, Nord Stream AG reported unprecedented damage that occurred the day before on three strings of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 offshore gas pipelines. On September 26, 2022, Swedish seismologists registered two explosions on the pipeline routes. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office launched a criminal case based on charges of international terrorism.

On February 8, US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published an article, which said, citing sources, that US Navy divers had planted explosive devices under the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines under the cover of the BALTOPS exercise in June 2022, and Norwegians activated the bombs three months later. According to the journalist, the decision to conduct the operation was made by US President Joe Biden personally, following nine months of discussions with White House security specialists. White House National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a comment to TASS that Hersh’s account was "utterly false and complete fiction."

The German government has refrained from assessments regarding who masterminded the sabotage and asked to await the results of the investigation.