Sweden, Denmark and Germany will conduct investigations of the incident separately, broadcaster ARD reports
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Stockholm, Copenhagen and Berlin have refused to carry out a joint investigation into the alleged sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, news portal Tagesschau, owned by the ARD media, is reporting on Friday.
According to the report, the three nations “actually wanted to investigate the destruction of the pipelines together and to find out who is responsible. But that’s not the case now.”
The media cited German government sources as saying that the three countries’ joint investigation team has been disbanded. Sweden was the first to leave due to privacy concerns, and was followed by Denmark. “Now each country will conduct its investigation separately from the others.”
On Thursday, Russia’s foreign ministry summoned the ambassadors of Germany, Denmark and Sweden over their countries’ refusal to provide access to the investigation. Moscow said it wouldn’t recognize the results of the ongoing investigation into the explosions at the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines in late September unless its experts are allowed to take part in the probe. If Russia’s calls for cooperation are ignored, Moscow will assume that the three European countries “have something to hide or [that] they are covering up the perpetrators of these terrorist attacks,” the ministry warned.
The warning comes after Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson announced on Monday that Stockholm would not share with Moscow the results of its investigation into the explosions that severely damaged the two conduits created to pump gas from Russia to the EU.
Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin hinted that despite the denial of access to the probe, “we all know well who the ultimate beneficiary of this crime is.”
READ MORE:
Moscow demands answers on Nord Stream blasts
The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were rendered inoperable on September 26 following a series of powerful underwater explosions off the Danish island of Bornholm.
Commenting on the blasts, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken had described them as a “tremendous opportunity” for Europe “to once and for all remove the dependence on Russian energy.”
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