The denial is firm. The Ukrainian presidency described, on Thursday, August 15, as “absolute nonsense” its accusation in the sabotage in September 2022 of the Russian Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, following press reports to this effect.
THE Wall Street Journal claimed that former Ukrainian chief of staff Valery Zaluzhny oversaw the plan to blow up the pipelines that were still supplying Europe with Russian gas at that time, despite the invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops from February 24, 2022.
“Ukraine’s involvement in the Nord Stream explosions is absolute nonsense. These actions had no practical interest for Ukraine,” presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak told AFP in response to the article in the American daily.
Zelensky aware?
According to the Wall Street JournalUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was reportedly aware of the project before reversing course and calling for its halt. The presidential spokesman noted that Ukraine’s involvement in the sabotage “could have put an end” to aid to Kiev from “European partners.” However, he described Moscow’s motives in destroying the pipeline as “obvious.”
“Russia considered it necessary to discredit Ukraine in a conjunctural manner, in order to reduce its diplomatic, emotional and informational influence on the European community,” he argued, even if it meant “losing the commercial opportunities of Nord Stream.”
The claims of the Wall Street Journal The news comes a day after German press reports that the judicial investigation into the sabotage in Germany was being focused on Ukraine, with an arrest warrant recently issued for a professional diver from that country.
“Like a torpedo”
According to the WSJ, a total of six people were directly involved in this spectacular and unprecedented operation, at a cost of around $300,000, all financed by private money. “Volodymyr Zelensky had initially approved the plan, according to an officer who participated in it and three who had knowledge of it,” the American newspaper wrote. “But then, when the CIA got wind of it and asked to stop it, he ordered it to be stopped,” it continued.
Valery Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army at the time, allegedly ignored the order and his team changed the initial plan, the newspaper claims.
Contacted by the WSJ, Valery Zaluzhny, who has since been appointed Ukraine’s ambassador to London, said in a written exchange that he had no knowledge of such an operation, and called any claim to the contrary a “provocation.”
After asking to stop the operation, Volodymyr Zelensky asked Valery Zaluzhny for an explanation, according to the WSJ, citing three people familiar with the exchange. Zaluzhny told him it was too late, saying it was no longer possible to communicate with the sabotage team because any contact could have jeopardized the operation.
“It was said (to Mr. Zelensky, editor’s note), it’s like a torpedo, once you launch it at the enemy, you can’t get it back, it keeps going until it goes boom,” describes a senior officer, informed of this conversation, quoted by the WSJ.
The German media, which revealed the recent progress of the judicial investigation, are much more cautious about the involvement of the Ukrainian high authorities and tend on the contrary to exonerate President Zelensky at least. The weekly The Mirror On the other hand, it suggests a possible involvement of Valeri Zaloujny.