The sabotage operation was a “blatant” attempt to take Russia out as an energy supplier, the president has said
The bombing of the Nord Stream gas pipelines was an “act of state terrorism” aimed at eliminating a key energy competitor of the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a virtual summit of G20 leaders.
Nord Stream 1 and 2 each comprised two separate pipelines, linking Russia and Germany. Three out of the four lines were destroyed in a series of explosions near the Danish island of Bornholm last September, severing Germany’s energy ties to Russia and leaving its gas-dependent economy reliant on more expensive American liquefied natural gas.
“To eliminate competitors and gain advantages, unfair methods of competition are used,” Putin said. “Not only the destruction of transport and logistics chains and international payment channels, but also acts of state terrorism.”
“A blatant example of this is the explosion of the…