WARSAW, Poland — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk on Saturday reacted to stories that revived questions on who blew up the Nord Stream pipelines in 2022, saying the initiators of the gasoline pipeline undertaking ought to “apologize and preserve quiet.” That remark got here after considered one of his deputies denied a declare that Warsaw was partly chargeable for its harm.
The Wall Avenue Journal reported on Thursday that Ukrainian authorities have been chargeable for blowing up the Nord Stream 1 and a pair of pipelines in September 2022, a dramatic act of sabotage that reduce Germany off from a key supply of power and worsened an power disaster in Europe.
Germany was a companion with Russia within the pipeline undertaking. Poland has lengthy mentioned its personal safety pursuits have been harmed by Nord Stream.
“To all of the initiators and patrons of Nord Stream 1 and a pair of. The one factor it’s best to do right this moment about it’s apologise and preserve quiet,” Tusk wrote on the social media portal X Saturday.
Tusk gave the impression to be reacting particularly to a declare by a former head of Germany’s international intelligence company, BND, August Hanning, who instructed the German each day Die Welt that the assault on the Nord Stream gasoline pipelines should have had Poland’s help. Hanning mentioned Germany ought to think about in search of compensation from Poland and Ukraine.
Hanning, who retired from his spy chief job, didn’t present any proof in help of his declare. Some observers famous that he served below former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, who went on to work later for Russian state-owned power firms, together with Nord Stream.
Krzysztof Gawkowski, a deputy Polish prime minister and the minister of digital affairs, strongly denied stories that Poland and Ukraine had broken the Nord Stream gasoline pipeline in an interview Friday on the Polsat broadcaster.
Gawkowski alleged that the feedback of the previous member of the German intelligence service have been “impressed by Moscow” and have been geared toward destabilizing NATO nations.
“I imagine that that is the sound of Russian disinformation,” he added.
On Wednesday, Polish prosecutors confirmed that that they had acquired a warrant for a Ukrainian man wished by Germany as a suspect within the pipeline assault, however that he left the nation earlier than he could possibly be arrested.
The Nord Stream undertaking, with its two pipelines created to hold gasoline from Russia to Europe alongside the Baltic Sea mattress, went forward regardless of opposition from Poland, the U.S. and Ukraine.
They allowed Russia to ship gasoline on to Western Europe, bypassing Poland and Ukraine. With all gasoline beforehand going over land, Warsaw and Kyiv feared shedding large sums in transit charges and political leverage that got here with controlling the gasoline transports.
The Wall Avenue Journal mentioned in its report revealed Thursday that it spoke to 4 senior Ukrainian protection and safety officers who both participated in or had direct data of the plot. All of them mentioned the pipelines have been a legit goal in Ukraine’s conflict of protection towards Russia. Ukrainian authorities are denying the claims.
Nord Stream 1 was accomplished and got here on-line in 2011. Nord Stream 2 was not completed till the autumn of 2021 however by no means grew to become operational because of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
