UPDATE - Kremlin says reports on Nord Stream explosions ‘coordinated stuffing in media’

ADDS COMMENTS BY RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN, UKRAINIAN DEFENSE MINISTER

By Burc Eruygur

ISTANBUL (AA) - The Kremlin on Wednesday said some media reports, suggesting the involvement of pro-Ukrainian groups in the Nord Stream explosions, are "coordinated stuffing in the media.”

“Obviously, the authors of the attack want to divert attention. This is clearly a coordinated stuffing in the media,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday's media reports.

Peskov said he was bewildered about how US officials could assume anything about the explosions without an investigation, noting that Russia is still not allowed to participate in the investigations and that they received notes from Denmark and Sweden about this "only a few days ago."

“This is not just strange. It smells like a monstrous crime. At a minimum, the countries that are shareholders of the Nord Stream pipelines and the UN should demand an urgent transparent investigation with the participation of everyone who can shed light on it,” Peskov further said.

***** Separately, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a comment on Telegram that she would not be surprised if the West's investigation concluded that the US and the UK had not part in the Nord Stream explosions.

"Washington and London are following the beaten path of using controlled leaks in this matter, forming the agenda they need. ... But truth will prevail, I'm sure," Zakharova said.

Later, adviser to the head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Mykhailo Podolyak, said on Twitter that Kyiv was not involved in the Nord Stream explosions and that it has no information about pro-Ukrainian groups.

"Although I enjoy collecting amusing conspiracy theories about the Ukrainian government, I have to say: Ukraine has nothing to do with the Baltic Sea mishap and has no information about 'pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups.' What happened to the Nord Stream pipelines? 'They sank,' as they say in Russia itself," Podolyak said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov said, before the start of an informal meeting of EU defense ministers in the Swedish capital Stockholm, that Ukraine has nothing to do with the explosions at the Nord Stream pipelines, according to the state news agency Ukrinform.

As reported, at the end of September 2022, as a result of explosions on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines near the island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea, leakage began at four sections of gas pipelines in the exclusive economic zones of Denmark and Sweden.

The investigation of the sabotage, which is carried out with the participation of the competent authorities of Sweden, Germany and Denmark, is ongoing. Many countries tend to believe that the undermining of the "Nordic Streams" was initiated by the Russian Federation. Russia denies involvement in the accident.

Intelligence reviewed by US officials suggests that pro-Ukrainian groups may have been behind the bombings of key gas pipelines that were intended to send gas from Russia to western Ukraine, according to a report by New York Times on Tuesday.

The same report quoted US officials saying they had seen no evidence tying Ukraine's leadership to the attacks, with the intelligence they reviewed not specifying individuals nor who may have directed or paid for the attack.

Separately, according to reports by German public broadcasters ARD and SWR, as well as the weekly Zeit, German investigators uncovered evidence showing that a pro-Ukrainian group sabotaged the Nord Stream pipelines last year.

The Nord Stream pipelines were sabotaged last September, and explosions caused extensive damage to the pipelines connecting Russia and Germany via the Baltic Sea.​​​​​​​