MOSCOW, September 8. /TASS/. A senior Russian lawmaker has called for an independent international investigation of the acts of sabotage at the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
Die Welt said earlier, citing an unnamed German investigator, that the crew of the yacht Andromeda, which was allegedly used to blow up the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, were acting on the order of the then Ukrainian commander-in-chief, Valery Zaluzhny, who now serves as Ukraine’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.
"The situation around the Nord Stream blasts necessitates an independent international investigation involving highly professional experts. And what is going on now is nothing but sabotaging and large-scale government-level concealing," Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the international committee of the Russian State Duma, or lower house of parliament, and leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), wrote on his Telegram channel.
According to the lawmaker, theories that that the acts of sabotage were committed by a "group of Ukrainian divers" do not stand up to any professional analysis, like "other allegations." "Who would allow well-equipped divers with a load of explosives to move and dive freely just hundreds of meters from a NATO military base? And what's more, several times? Is it a breach in security or in critical thinking?" he added.
