MOSCOW: On Monday, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov asserted that it was “clear” the United States ordered the 2022 attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
German prosecutors recently issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian individual in connection with the pipeline blasts, which had transported Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea. The Wall Street Journal reported that a Ukrainian team carried out the explosions with approval from Kyiv’s then military commander-in-chief.
During a visit to Azerbaijan, Lavrov reiterated Moscow’s longstanding accusation of Western involvement.
“It is evident that such a terrorist attack would require orders from the highest levels, and for the West, that means Washington,” Lavrov told Izvestia in a video interview posted on its Telegram channel. He dismissed attempts to attribute the attack to a “group of drunken officers” as “not serious.”
The Wall Street Journal’s report indicated that Ukraine’s top military official at the time, Valery Zaluzhny, was responsible for planning the pipeline explosions. According to the report, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky had approved the plan but attempted to cancel it after the CIA warned him of the plan and advised against proceeding.
