BERLIN, September 25. /TASS/. Key questions over who carried out the sabotage of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, who ordered it, and who ultimately benefited remain unanswered, Russia’s ambassador to Germany, Sergey Nechayev, said on the fourth anniversary of the attacks. The text of his statement was published on the embassy’s Telegram channel.
"Four years after the unprecedented terrorist attack on a major piece of European gas infrastructure, key questions concerning the perpetrators, those who ordered the sabotage, and its beneficiaries remain unanswered," the diplomat said. In his view, Germany is engaged in a "leisurely process of picking scapegoats."
"The topic is being pushed out of the public eye," Nechayev said.
The ambassador pointed out that German authorities, "quick to pass judgment on Russia, are displaying surprising restraint regarding the proven terrorist attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines."
"It is as if this were not a matter of a global man-made disaster that resulted - beyond multi-billion-dollar investor losses, the destruction of completed gas pipelines, and the effective lifting of the taboo against attacking critical civilian infrastructure - in the largest methane release in history, causing colossal environmental damage," the diplomat stated. "The angry outcries over this issue and the promises not to let such a flagrant crime go unpunished have been forgotten," he added.
He noted that German authorities were "far more concerned about an abandoned, malfunctioning drone found at Leipzig Airport," adding that any alleged link to Russia, as in other similar cases, was based on nothing more than "highly likely" speculation.
Nevertheless, the ambassador said, the German government had deemed this sufficient to close the Russian Consulate General in Bonn and the Russian House in Berlin, while expelling more than 150 Russian employees and their family members from the country.
"These utterly inappropriate measures have been described as a ‘measured and proportionate response’ to Russian ‘hybrid attacks.’ It takes quite an imagination to envision what a ‘proportionate’ response from Berlin would look like in the event of proven involvement by the Kiev regime - and the ‘string-pullers’ behind it - in the terrorist attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines, which primarily harmed Germany and its citizens," Nechayev emphasized.
Meanwhile, he remarked, "multi-billion-euro financial flows from European state budgets and borrowed funds continue to line the pockets of corrupt officials in Kiev, heads of military-industrial conglomerates, and numerous lobbyists and middlemen."
"Abandoning Russian energy supplies has been hailed as one of the key achievements of Germany's policy of a 'turning point' (Zeitenwende)," the ambassador noted.
Four years ago
On September 26, 2022, unprecedented damage was recorded on three lines of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas carriers. As a result, only one line of Nord Stream 2 remained intact and could theoretically be put into operation. Following the damage to the pipelines, the Russian Prosecutor General's Office initiated proceedings regarding an act of international terrorism. It is currently impossible to determine a timeframe for restoring the pipelines to operational status.