Comment by Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Denmark’s refusal to conduct an investigation into the sabotage attacks on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines

We noticed Denmark’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Lars Løkke Rasmussen’s statement containing a refusal to allow Russia’s participation in investigating the sabotage attacks on Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2.  

It is common knowledge that Denmark deliberately dragged its feet for two and a half years on issuing permission for Nord Stream 2 AG to build the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline in its exclusive economic zone. It is a highly indicative attitude. Already at that time, Copenhagen clearly followed instructions from its overseas patrons.

This time, the Danish foreign minister called things by their proper names. Copenhagen, as a zealous defender of US interests in Europe, was not interested from the start in an investigation that could shed light on those who actually ordered and carried out the terrorist attacks in question. Denmark’s muffled reaction to having been informed about Nord Stream 2 AG discovering an object near a welded seam as it surveyed the pipeline in February 2023 is yet another confirmation of this fact.   

The Russian Foreign Ministry has repeatedly commented on the Danish authorities’ actions with regard to the Nord Stream pipelines. We emphasise that as of today, the Danish authorities have not bothered to give anything like an intelligible reply to a any of the numerous Russian requests or provide a single result of their investigation, this despite the fact that it is Russia as the owner of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines that is the aggrieved party.

Neither has Copenhagen deemed it necessary to reply in any way to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin’s October 2022 official letter to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen with a proposal to let representatives of Russia’s competent federal executive agencies and Gazprom join the investigation.

Despite the Danish refusal to hold a joint investigation into these sabotage attacks, the Russian Foreign Ministry will continue to insist that Copenhagen provide answers to the questions that were asked earlier. It will not be able to sweep this issue under the carpet.  

We proceed from the premise that it is only a comprehensive and open international investigation with the mandatory participation of Russian representatives that can provide the public with reliable and objective data on the reasons, perpetrators, and instigators of the sabotage attacks.