"Utter nonsense" – Putin on Russia's involvement in sabotage operation on Balticconnector gas pipe
Russian President Vladimir Putin on 13 October commented for the first time on the reports about alleged involvement of Russia in the sabotage operation on the Balticconnector gas pipe which connects Finland and Estonia through the Baltic Sea.
Source: European Pravda with reference to Putin’s statement on the sidelines of the Summit of Independent States in the Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek
Details: Asked about Russia’s involvement in the depressurization of Balticconnector, Putin replied: "[This is] Utter nonsense" and claimed that "frankly speaking, I did not even know this gas pipe exists".
"So it could have been anything… [for example] some technical issue…They might have hit it with some hook, I don’t know…There might have been an earthquake, it happens rarely but it happens. Some [tectonic] movements…I don’t know, let them investigate. They do not involve us in any investigations," Putin tried to explain.
He added that Finnish President Sauli Niinistö who had reported about likely "external interference" into the operation of Balticconnector "cannot understand that these claims only have one purpose: cover the terrorist act committed by the West on the Nord Stream gas pipes".
Background: On the evening of 10 October, Finland and Estonia made official statements about the damage done to the Balticconnector gas pipe and the data transfer cable which connects the two countries through the Gulf of Finland.
Finnish intelligence services stated on 12 October that it does not exclude a possible involvement of a "state subject" in the damaging of the Balticconnector gas pipe in the Baltic Sea and the undersea telecommunication cable. The Finnish Police also assumed that the damage was caused by a "mechanical force", not an explosion.
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