MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th June, 2023) NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday refused to comment on reports linking Ukraine to the blasts on the Nord Stream pipelines, saying that the official investigation into the attacks is still ongoing.
Earlier in the month, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing officials familiar with the matter, that before the bombings, Dutch military intelligence officials had notified the CIA that a Ukrainian sabotage team was seeking a yacht on the Baltic coastline to be used by divers to plant explosives along the Nord Stream pipelines.
"There are ongoing investigations; therefore, I would not draw any final conclusions. What matters is that we know that critical undersea infrastructure as gas pipelines, as oil pipelines and not least all the internet cables, they are critical for our modern societies and they are vulnerable," Stoltenberg said at a joint press conference with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius at the Jagel Air Base.
The Nord Stream pipelines, built to deliver gas under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, were hit by explosions in September 2022. The pipeline's operator, Nord Stream AG, said that the damage was unprecedented and it was impossible to estimate the time repairs might take.
Denmark, Germany and Norway have left Russia out of their investigations into the attack, prompting Moscow to launch its own investigation of charges of international terrorism.
Last week, Swedish public prosecutor Mats Ljungqvist, who is in charge of the investigation into the blasts, said that he hoped the prosecution would bring charges against those responsible for the bombings as early as in fall.
