In this handout photo provided by Swedish Coast Guard, the release of gas emanating from a leak on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea on Sept. 28, 2022 in At Sea.
Handout/Swedish Coast Guard via Getty Im
Handout/Swedish Coast Guard via Getty Im
KHARKIV, Ukraine – An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is questioning recent reports that a pro-Ukraine group was behind the undersea bombings of the Nord Stream oil pipelines in September.
In a written response to questions from NPR, the adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, also categorically denied that Zelenskyy and his government knew of any plans to sabotage the pipelines.
Podolyak said the reports by The New York Times and Germany’s Die Zeit newspaper had “lots of assumptions and anonymous conjecture but not real facts.” He added that the accusations seemed to be aimed at distracting Europeans from supporting Ukraine and to paint Russia as the victim.
Sabotaging the pipeline, Podolyak said, “is absolutely devoid of tactical sense and does not affect the course of the war in any way.”
Both newspapers attribute their reports to sources within U.S. and European intelligence agencies — and say there’s no evidence Zelenskyy’s government directed the suspected saboteurs or even know about them.
Citing German investigators, Die Zeit writes that six people carried out the attacks and used a yacht rented by a company registered in Poland and owned by two Ukrainians. But details beyond that remain sketchy.
Podolyak says he suspects Russia is behind the attacks because “Russia knew the pipelines’ vulnerabilities and logistics, and had full technical data to carry out the delicate work of destruction at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.”
He said Russia used similar false-flag operations to launch its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. “It planned multiple provocations, lied that Ukraine was a threat to (Russia), and began launching missile attacks on our country’s peaceful cities,” Podolyak said.
Polina Lytvynova contributed to this report.