Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has laughed off “ridiculous” claims by German media outlets that the Nord Stream pipelines were blown up by a small group of divers on a “little boat.”
The Nord Stream pipelines, which transported Russian natural gas to Germany and other parts of Western Europe via the Baltic Sea, were sabotaged in September 2022 in a series of underwater explosions near the Danish island of Bornholm.
Multiple Western media outlets have reported that a small team of pro-Ukrainian divers was responsible for the sabotage, having rented a yacht to sail across the Baltic and destroy the gas connectors.
Commenting on the media reports, Lavrov exclaimed “Five people were sitting around drinking, having a laugh, and decided ‘Why don’t we blow up the Nord Stream pipelines?’ They had diving skills, allegedly hired a little boat, sailed to the place where the Nord Streams were passing, went down, planted explosives and detonated them,” he said.
“If someone can actually believe this version, then it’s only people who are afraid of the truth and are trying to protect the criminal Kiev regime in any way possible,” he suggested.
Lavrov said despite submitting numerous requests, Russia had still not received any information about the investigation from the German authorities, and claimed the probe lacked transparency.
Meanwhile, Denmark and Sweden, who have also ignored all of Moscow’s requests, have stated that they had closed down their national investigations into the Nord Stream explosions, the minister noted.
“We will not abandon this topic, we will continue to seek a transparent investigation, which is being blocked in every possible way by the US, Britain and their allies,” Lavrov said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed claims that the pipelines were blown up by activists as “complete nonsense,” and has insisted that the explosions were carried out by professionals supported by “the full might of the state, which has certain technologies.”