Russia's Defense Ministry said on Saturday that members of the British Navy blew up two Russian Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea last month, but London refuted Moscow's comments, saying its accusations were "false allegations".
"According to available information, personnel of the British Navy participated in the planning, support and execution of a terrorist attack in the Baltic Sea on September 26 of this year with the bombing of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines," the Russian Ministry of Defense said.
The Ministry of Defense did not provide any evidence to accuse the British Navy, saying only that the same team of British military experts who planned and directed Saturday's attack by Ukrainian drones on the Russian fleet in the Black Sea, was the one who participated in the planning and execution of the bombing of Nord Stream pipelines.
British response
And the British response to the Russian accusation was not delayed, as the Ministry of Defense said that it was “false allegations aimed at diverting attention from Russia’s catastrophic handling of the illegal invasion of Ukraine,” and the British Ministry of Defense added that “the story it made up reveals more evidence that condemns the government.” Russia, not the West" in the Nord Stream bombings.
Russia has previously blamed the West for the bombings that damaged the Russian Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines at the bottom of the Baltic Sea, in the exclusive economic zone of Sweden and Denmark.
Russia has not previously provided specific details of who is responsible for the damage to the two pipelines, which were previously the two largest routes for delivering Russian gas supplies to Germany.
The Kremlin has repeatedly said allegations of Russia's responsibility for the damage are "foolish", and Russian officials have suggested that Washington had a motive for the attack due to its desire to sell more liquefied natural gas to Europe, but the United States has denied any role in the Nord Stream bombings.
Swedish investigations
Yesterday, Friday, the Swedish judicial authorities announced new investigations into the sites of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipeline leaks, which were caused by sabotage, according to the Swedish Public Prosecutor's Office. At the site of the leaks, the Swedish Army will provide assistance in the investigation upon request.
Both Sweden and Denmark concluded that the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipeline leaks were caused by explosions, but they have not yet accused any party of being responsible for this.
On Thursday, the company operating the Nord Stream line sent a ship to the Swedish economic zone to explore the damage to the line. The German company, Nord Stream AG, said last Thursday that the search to be carried out by specialists will take 3 to 5 days.
The German government said the day before yesterday, Thursday, that it did not expect that one of the Nord Stream pipelines was still intact, after the explosions that hit the line last September.
It should be noted that the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines have an annual capacity of 110 billion cubic meters, which is half of Russia's natural gas exports.