A top Polish official attacked another member of the European Parliament on Tuesday for suggesting that the United States had caused damage to two Russian gas pipes linking Germany and Russia this week.
Radoslaw Sikorski, a member of the European Parliament who is also chairman of the delegation for relations with the United States, posted on Twitter “Thanks USA” and a photo showing methane rising at the site where the pipeline burst.
Sikorski tweeted: “By and large, there’s no shortage of pipeline capacity for taking gas to Western Europe including Germany,” “Nordstream could not blackmail or wage war on Eastern Europe without impunity.” This is their only logic. ”
He stated that “All Baltic and Ukrainian states have been opposed to Nordstream’s construction for 20 years.” “Now, scrap metal worth $20 billion is at the bottom of the sea. This is yet another cost of Russia’s criminal invasion of Ukraine.
Russia capitalized immediately on Sikorksi’s statement. Sikorski has been married to Anne Applebaum, an American leftist writer. On social media, he asked if his statement was official in relation to this terrorist attack.
💬 Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria #Zakharova: ex Polish FM, now European MP @radeksikorski has thanked the US for today’s incident at the Russian gas pipeline (Nord Stream 2).
Is it an official statement on this being a terrorist attack? https://t.co/QnGc10kNCq
— MFA Russia 🇷🇺 (@mfa_russia) September 27, 2022
Stanislaw Ziaryn, Poland’s Secretary of State and former Director of the Department of National Security, quickly condemned Sikorksi for his comments.
Zaryn tweeted: “Russian #propaganda immediately launched an attack against Poland and US, accusing West of aggression towards #NS1/NS2. Zaryn tweeted, “Russian #propaganda immediately launched a campaign against Poland and the US, accusing West of aggression towards #NS1/NS2.
Russian #propaganda instantly launched a smear campaign against Poland, the US and Ukraine, accusing the West of aggression against #NS1 and #NS2.
Authenticating the Russian lies at this particular moment jeopardizes the security of Poland.
What an act of gross irresponsibility! pic.twitter.com/S9YJKRCv9B— Stanisław Żaryn (@StZaryn) September 27, 2022
Nord Stream AG (the Russian company that built the pipelines) issued a statement about it, calling it “unprecedented”.
The company issued a statement stating that three offshore gas pipelines belonging to the Nord Stream system were destroyed simultaneously. It’s difficult to predict when the gas transport infrastructure can be rebuilt.
Spiegel reported that the CIA warned Germany about possible attacks on the Baltic Sea pipelines weeks ago. Unnamed sources claimed that Berlin believes that it is a targeted attack on the Nord Stream system.
Germany is the largest economy in the continent and depended on Russian natural gases for 55% of its imports before the conflict. The producer price index for industrial products rose 45.8% in the past year, according to data from Germany’s Federal Statistical Office. This follows increases in 37.2% and 32.7% respectively in July 2022.
Many producers have stopped production due to rising energy costs. According to EU data, industrial production in Europe fell by 2.3%.
