As of: 09/29/2022 9:41 p.m
Russian President Putin has described the leaks in the Nord Stream pipelines as “international terrorism”. The Kremlin continues to deny any responsibility for the attacks. But when searching for clues, many eyes turn towards Moscow.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has denounced the alleged sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines as an “act of international terrorism”. In a telephone conversation with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Putin explained his opinion “regarding this unprecedented act of sabotage, which is in fact an act of international terrorism,” the Kremlin said.
Russia has called the UN Security Council, which will meet on Friday, regarding the apparently sabotaged pipelines. While Putin chose sharp words, Western countries look to Moscow when looking for someone to blame.
However, the Russian government denies any involvement – and blames another state. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recently said that it was “very difficult to imagine that such a terrorist act would occur without the involvement of a state.” Peskov said yesterday that it was “stupid and absurd” to assume that Russia was behind the leaks The leaks are “rather problematic” for Moscow, with the expensive gas now disappearing “in the air”.
Security expert considers Russian authorship likely
Security expert Johannes Peters nevertheless suspects Russia to be behind the alleged act of sabotage. “Obviously, it seems a bit absurd to destroy your own pipelines,” said the expert from the Institute for Security Policy at the University of Kiel ARD morning magazine. But there are good reasons for this.
One reason is certainly to send a “strong signal” to Europe, especially to Germany and Poland, that the same thing might be done with pipelines that are much more important for our security of supply, such as the pipelines from Norway: “So be nice not so sure that you are well prepared for the winter and that you are able to compensate for our gas”, is the motto.
Another reason for a possible Russian act of sabotage might be that in winter “the Nord Stream 2 pipe, which is still intact, can be used to increase pressure on Germany, for example if domestic political pressure on the government should increase because gas prices are high because we might not have enough gas for the winter following all,” says Peters.
Then Russia might offer to deliver gas through the intact pipeline following all. To do this, however, Germany would have to “pull out of the Western sanctions regime.” The equally widespread thesis that the United States might have caused the leaks “to prevent Europe from finding its way back to the Russians in a cold winter,” Peters believes is almost impossible.
Russia’s perpetrators “obvious”
According to information from ARD Capital Studios It is said in faction circles that within the German security authorities there is still no determination as to who caused the explosions. The only thing that is largely certain is that in the end only one state actor can be considered. It is said that it is most likely that this is Russia. So far, however, there is no evidence of this, only probabilities.
“Obviously it might have been Russia,” Roderich Kiesewetter, CDU, Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, on the pipeline leaks
Morning magazine, September 29, 2022
The CDU MP Roderich Kiesewetter (CDU), member of the parliamentary control committee of the Bundestag for the intelligence services, said in the ARD-Morgenmagazin, he thinks it’s “obvious that Russia might have done it”. At the same time, however, Kiesewetter urged prudence in the investigation.
The “Spiegel” reported on Thursday that German security authorities assumed that highly effective explosive devices were used to damage the pipelines. Calculations have shown that explosive devices must have been used, the effect of which is comparable to that of 500 kilos of TNT.
NATO Council threatens to react
The NATO Council said “all information currently available” indicated that the leaks were the result of “deliberate, reckless and irresponsible acts of sabotage”. The 30 member states of the military alliance threatened a “joint and decisive response” to any “deliberate attack on the allies’ critical infrastructure”.
The head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, said at a symposium in Paris that it was “very obvious” to him who was behind the leaks. In the past few days, representatives of the governments of Sweden, Denmark and Poland, among others, as well as EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, had spoken of an intentional act as the most likely reason for the leaks.
