In Copenhagen, they said that they would conduct a thorough investigation without the participation of Russia, and the results would be reported to the world community. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation called such a decision “fraud”.
Denmark will not give permission to Russia to participate in the investigation of explosions on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines. This was announced on Thursday, March 16, by Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lekke Rasmussen, writes The Local.
“There is a rule of law in Denmark, Sweden and Germany, and you can be confident in our investigations,” Rasmussen said.
According to the head of the Danish diplomatic department, each of the three countries launched an investigation into the explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines on September 26 last year.
Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly said earlier this week that he wanted Denmark to allow Russia to take part in the investigation.
It is noted that Denmark has the right to control who participates in the investigation of the explosion that occurred in the Danish economic zone. Two of the four leaks occurred in the Danish zone, and two in the Swedish one.
On Tuesday, Danish authorities received a notification from the Russian company Gazprom that an object had been discovered near the site of explosions on the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline.
“The owners of the Nord Stream gas pipeline have the opportunity to inspect pipelines. It was in this context that the object was seen. We told the Russians that we would conduct a thorough investigation. And when we do, we will announce the results of this investigation,” Rasmussen said.
The Kremlin’s reaction to Denmark’s refusal
On March 16, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that the exclusion of the Russian Federation from investigating the explosions at Nord Stream is a “fraud” and “a real scam.”
“They said that they are a state of law, so the investigation that they will conduct is a priori correct, and based on the results of this investigation, they may say something to someone. Well, this is fraud, this is absolutely such a real scam “, – quotes the words of Zakharova, the Russian agency “TASS”.
Explosions at Nord Stream gas pipelines
Recall that four leaks on two Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea off the coast of the Danish island of Bornholm appeared at the end of September last year, while seismic institutes reported that they recorded two underwater explosions before the leaks appeared. Although the leaks occurred in international waters, two of them were in the Danish exclusive economic zone and two were in Sweden.
On September 28, the British Ministry of Defense suggested that Russia could blow up Nord Stream using an underwater drone. According to the British military, the most likely scenario was the secret delivery of an autonomous underwater drone with a payload to separate sections of gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. The submersible could have been launched from a small vessel, such as a fishing vessel, then the explosive devices were dropped next to the pipes.
