President Volodymyr Zelenskyy denies any involvement of Ukraine in the fall 2022 explosions at the Nord Stream and Nord Stream-2 gas pipelines.
Zelenskyy said this during a joint press conference with Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin in Kyiv, answering questions from journalists, Ukrainian News Agency reports.
"As for the Nord Stream - we have nothing to do with it... Ukrainians definitely did not do this," Zelenskyy said.
He believes that the appearance in the media of information about the alleged involvement of Ukrainians in explosions on Russian gas pipelines is caused by a desire to slow down the provision of assistance to Ukraine and mitigate sanctions against Russia.
"I believe it is very dangerous that some independent media that I have always held in high regard are taking such steps. I believe that this is wrong, it only plays into the hands of the Russian Federation or there are still some business groups that are interested in not imposing powerful sanctions, because their business suffers, and these groups can not only be in Russia," the President said.
He also said that there are third states that help Russia bypass sanctions with self-benefit.
"On the one hand, they support Ukraine, our sovereignty, even transfer something to Ukraine, so, you know, they helped conditionally, as they say, for show. And on the other hand, they make bypasses of sanctions, where tens of billions of dollars are earned and, compared to the pre-war period, have an increased trade turnover with the Russian Federation," the President said.
According to him, this applies to many states, even those who are part of the European Union or are a member of NATO.
"I would pay attention to this and analyze who needs it, for whom such misinformation is needed," Zelenskyy added.
He stressed that Ukraine is interested in having weapons supplied to it and that sanctions are imposed against Russia.
Earlier, The New York Times, citing officials with knowledge of this issue, reported that the U.S. intelligence services received information that some pro-Ukrainian group was involved in the September 2022 explosions in the Baltic Sea, which damaged the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in October 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the United States, Poland and Ukraine benefited from incidents on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream-2 gas pipelines.
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