MOSCOW, March 9. /TASS/. Media allegations about a "pro-Ukrainian group" being behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines are nothing but propaganda, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev wrote on Telegram on Thursday.
"It’s ignorant US propaganda," he said, commenting on Western media reports blaming the pipeline explosions on a "pro-Ukrainian group" not affiliated with anyone.
"They must just be lone rangers fighting against the damned Muscovites. Some inglourious basterds saving the world," the politician quipped, referring to a Quentin Tarantino movie. "They went and dove into the sea, blew up two huge pipes on the seabed and disappeared into the sunset. Unnoticed. In a sea full of NATO ships and littered with international tracking systems," Medvedev went on to say.
He emphasized that the "movie" had flopped right after its premiere as the audience did not believe it and started asking uncomfortable questions about why they had done a 180 on their previous version about a "Russian connection" and why the West was actively insisting that the "pro-Ukrainian group" did not have any ties to the Kiev regime. "The answers are quite clear, given the current sentiment among Europeans who are less than thrilled about the prospects of paying for more packages of sanctions, weapons supplies to Ukraine, the energy crisis and a decline in living standards in once wealthy countries," the politician wrote, adding that if the pipelines had been blown up by Ukrainian Nazis and not by Russia, then "what’s the point of supporting them with fire and sword, as well as with funds?".