Russia responds to Danish Nord Stream investigation denial — RT World News
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova hinted that Copenhagen was responding to Washington’s bidding
Denmark has never been interested in finding the real culprits behind the explosions that destroyed Nord Stream pipelines last September, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. She noted that Copenhagen had dragged its feet on granting permission for the second stage of the gas pipeline and refused to cooperate with Moscow now that it had been sabotaged.
In a statement on Saturday, Zakharova suggested that Copenhagen’s long-standing dislike of the Nord Stream project is due to American influence.
“Copenhagen, which so fiercely defends American interests in Europe, was initially uninterested in conducting an investigation that might shed light on“those behind the sabotage,” the Russian official wrote.
She pointed out that Denmark has yet to respond in any meaningful way to any of the numerous requests from Russian authorities regarding the investigation into the explosions, including that of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin last year. Zakharova also reminded Danish officials that Moscow is the owner of the destroyed gas pipelines.
According to the press release, “despite Denmark’s refusal (participate) in a joint sabotage investigation,“Russia will continue to insist on being”provided answers to the questions posed above.“Zakharova went on to warn that Moscow would not leave Copenhagen”sweep the problem under the rug,” adding that only an open international investigation including Russia would be able to establish the facts and present them objectively.
Appearing on Russian TV channel Russia 1 on Thursday, Zakharova called Denmark’s refusal “fraud” and one “total scam.”
Earlier in the day, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen ruled out the possibility of Moscow participating in the investigation, telling reporters that “Denmark, Sweden and Germany all have the rule of law and we can trust our investigations.”
Russia accused the three countries of obstruction and asked the UN to open an impartial international investigation.
The Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines were built under the Baltic Sea to transport Russian natural gas to Germany and then to Western Europe. Both conduits were ruptured and rendered inoperable by explosions near the Danish island of Bornholm in September 2022.
RT
