Ushakov responded to Russia’s ban on participating in the investigation of the Nord Stream explosions

Presidential aide Yuri Ushakov responded to Russia’s ban on participating in the investigation into the Nord Stream explosions, which was announced on March 16 by Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen.

Ushakov recalled that on February 21, in the economic zone of Denmark, on one of the lines of the gas pipeline towards Russia, a certain cylindrical object 30-40 cm high was found, moreover, at the junction of pipes, “which is important in terms of a possible explosion.” “That is, this is a beacon that could be an element of an explosive device, for example, some kind of signal can be transmitted through it,” Ushakov said. The operator company Nord Stream AG informed the Danish side about this.

Ushakov said that he personally called the charge d’affaires ad interim for Denmark twice: “And he suggested that the Danish authorities consider the possibility of conducting a joint investigation with the participation of specialists from the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and in case of detection of some dangerous element, carry out mine clearance. This was my suggestion.

The response of the Danish chargé d’affaires was so rather vague. It was said that, “given the location of the facility, the Danish authorities are currently assessing the safety and environmental aspects and will inform the Russian side on this issue.” That is, the answer that the Danish Foreign Minister deciphered yesterday, that is, Denmark will not allow Russia to participate in the investigation. Absolutely non-constructive position, non-constructive approach. We don’t know what kind of investigation the Danes themselves will conduct, but objectivity in it will obviously not be enough, because they don’t want to let us in, although the topic is sensitive and extremely important.”

Vladimir Putin said on March 14 that Russia offered the Danish authorities to form an international group of experts and conduct a survey of the Nord Stream lines, but received an ambiguous answer. “We would like to get permission from the Danish authorities to independently or jointly with them, or rather, by forming an international group of experts and explosives who can work at such a depth, conduct the necessary surveys … But in response to our request to the Danish authorities, we received the answer is that they themselves should think about this and, when they consider it possible, they will give us an answer. Such a vague answer was received,” he said in an interview with Rossiya 24.

On the eve of March 16, Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lökke Rasmussen informedthat Copenhagen will not give Moscow permission to participate in the Nord Stream investigation. According to him, the investigations of Denmark, Sweden and Germany can be trusted, because in these countries “the rule of law reigns.”

After that, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, said that Denmark’s refusal to provide Russia with access to the investigation regards as “fraud”, “scam” and “three-penny attraction, which, in my opinion, no one has been buying for a long time.” Zakharova stressed that a lot of money is at stake, so the story of the pipelines will not be able to be “buried and removed”.

The Nord Stream incident occurred on the night of September 26, 2022. Pressure dropped in both pipelines. Two subsequently discovered leaks were in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Sweden, and two more were in the Danish EEZ. Initially, Germany, Sweden and Denmark agreed to conduct a joint investigation, but this idea was later abandoned. In October 2022, Sweden announced the completion of the investigation, stating “increasing suspicions of gross sabotage”, but those responsible for what happened were not named.