Berlin hopes to bring those responsible to justice “if we can find them,” the chancellor said.
Germany has nothing to hide in its investigation into sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, Chancellor Olaf Scholz insisted, days after Moscow described the probe as “absolutely not transparent.”
So far, no one has claimed responsibility for the 2022 explosions that severed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines carrying Russian natural gas to Germany and other parts of Western Europe.
“We call on all security authorities and the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office to investigate the explosions without anyone caring,” Scholz saying During a meeting with citizens in Prenzlau, Brandenburg, on Saturday.
“Nothing is being hidden and that should be absolutely clear,” He stressed and added: “We want to bring the perpetrators to justice in Germany, if we can find them.”
Last month, several German media reported that authorities had issued a first arrest warrant in the case, allegedly for a Ukrainian citizen identified as “Vladimir Z.”
A few months after the Nord Stream explosions, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh reported – citing whistleblowers and other well-placed sources – that the operation was carried out by American divers. The explosions were reportedly carried out under the pretext of NATO’s BALTOPS 22 exercises and detonated on the orders of President Joe Biden. Moscow has refrained from openly accusing Washington, but has pointed out that the United States stands to benefit most from the disruption of cheap fuel supplies to the EU economic powerhouse.
However, according to a version spread by Western media shortly after Hersh’s revelations, the explosions were triggered by a small team of pro-Ukrainian commandos who rented a yacht to reach the site and submerged to plant the charges. The CIA and its European counterparts, as well as Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky, were reportedly kept in the dark. More recently, the Wall Street Journal claimed that Zelensky knew about and approved the operation, then unsuccessfully tried to stop it.
Commenting on the German investigation into the sabotage, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday that Berlin has not shared any information with Moscow despite numerous requests. He described the investigation as “absolutely not transparent”, and dismissed claims that six individuals carried out the sabotage impulsively as not credible.
“If anyone can really believe this version, then it is only people who are afraid of the truth.” Lavrov said Moscow would insist on a transparent investigation. “which is being blocked by the United States, Great Britain and their allies.”
