MOSCOW, Aug. 19 (Bernama-Sputnik) -- Russia has officially filed a claim against Germany regarding the investigation into the Nord Stream bombing and is seeking to hold talks on Germany fulfilling its international obligations in the fight against terrorism, Oleg Tyapkin, the director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Third European Department, said in an interview with Sputnik.
"The German authorities have put one of the alleged perpetrators of terrorist attacks in the Baltic Sea, who is a citizen of Ukraine, on the wanted list. Judging by the fact that the German media has long and methodically promoted the narrative that these individuals were not associated with any state, the German investigation will also be closed without identifying the true order givers of the Nord Stream bombings. That is, in fact, Germany will let it slide," he said.
Russia does not intend to put up with this state of affairs, Tyapkin said.
"We have raised the issue of Germany and other affected countries fulfilling their obligations under the UN anti-terrorist conventions. We have officially made corresponding claims on this matter bilaterally, including to Berlin. We are seeking to hold negotiations in accordance with current international regulations. Our further steps will depend on the reaction of the West," he emphasised.
German media reported earlier that the German prosecutor's office had issued an arrest warrant for Ukrainian citizen Volodymyr Z. in the case of the gas pipeline explosions. One of the publications published his photo, which made it possible to establish that he was a diver named Volodymyr Zhuravlev from Kyiv. It is also alleged that his accomplices were a married couple – Svetlana and Yevgeny Uspensky.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the German investigation into the explosions at Nord Stream was focused on the former commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Valery Zaluzhny, and his aides. The publication said that the CIA had allegedly demanded that Volodymyr Zelensky cancel the order to sabotage the pipelines, which he had agreed to, but Zaluzhny had disobeyed. At the same time, the publication also said, citing sources, that the idea of blowing up the Nord Streams came to senior Ukrainian officers under the influence of alcohol.
The explosions on two Russian export gas pipelines to Europe – Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 – occurred on September 26, 2022. Germany, Denmark and Sweden did not rule out deliberate sabotage. Nord Stream AG, the operator of Nord Stream AG, said that the destruction of the gas pipelines was unprecedented, and it was impossible to estimate the repair time. The Prosecutor General's Office of Russia initiated a case on an act of international terrorism. Russia has repeatedly requested data on the explosions on the Nord Streams, but has never received it, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
--BERNAMA-SPUTNIK
