BERLIN, July 18. /TASS/. The German authorities continue to reject proposals for an open international investigation into the terrorist attacks on Nord Stream and are pushing away this issue in every possible way, Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechaev said in an interview with TASS.
"Despite repeated appeals from the Russian side, the German authorities continue to reject all proposals to conduct an open international investigation into the terrorist attacks on Europe's largest energy infrastructure facility. They refer to the ongoing investigation by the German Prosecutor General's Office, calling "not to interfere" in its conduct," he noted.
The ambassador pointed out that "during this time, not a single official statement has been made that could in any way shed light on the incident." "The issue is being pushed away in every possible way. Possible dates for the completion of the investigation are not announced," Nechaev said.
The diplomat drew attention to the fact that "under the conditions of the demonstrative and clearly not random refusal" of Denmark and Sweden to continue their own investigation, "Germany turned out to be a monopolist of this process." "Despite the fact that it was Germany from the Western countries, that suffered the most significant losses as the main consumer of Russian gas and the European distribution hub," he said.
German investigators have long known who ordered and carried out the terrorist attacks on Nord Stream, Nechaev believes. "I think the investigators have long known who ordered and carried out the largest terrorist attack on infrastructure," Nechaev noted. "Traces of such a crime cannot be hidden, especially when the party conducting the investigation has all the available surveillance and intelligence arsenal at its disposal," he added.
On July 6, German newspaper Welt am Sonntag, citing data from German investigators, reported that the bombing of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines was planned as early as 2014, before the reunification of Crimea with Russia. According to the report, the plans could have been developed by a certain "Ukrainian group" at that time. If the long-term planning from Ukraine is proven, it could seriously affect Germany's desire to support Ukrainians, the publication said. Currently, the German Federal Prosecutor's Office continues to investigate the Nord Stream explosions.
On September 27, 2022, Nord Stream AG reported "unprecedented destruction" that had happened the day before on three strings of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines. On September 26, Swedish seismologists recorded two explosions on offshore pipeline routes. Russia's General Prosecutor's Office initiated a case on an act of international terrorism after the damage to gas pipelines. The timeframe for restoring the gas pipelines to operation cannot be determined at this time.