Donald Tusk cancelled the planned journey to Germany at the end of the week, due to fresh details of the country's engagement in the Nord Stream gas pipeline sabotage events – said Euractiv, citing his sources.
Earlier, Tusk was invited to receive the M100 Media Award "for strengthening democracy, freedom of speech and the press, as well as the European agreement", and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was to give a speech beginning the ceremony to be held at the end of the week. Both politicians cancelled their participation in the event, citing interior affairs or inconsistencies in the schedule. The ceremony will be attended by lawyer General Adam Bodnar and erstwhile German president Joachim Gauck.
According to Euractiv, the real reason for the cancellation of Tusk's participation was the fast deterioration of relations between the 2 countries in the past fewer weeks. "According to sources acquainted with the case, the deteriorating situation is mainly related to the Nord Stream pipeline," writes the portal.
Euractiv recalls that Poland had previously rejected Berlin's request to arrest a Ukrainian citizen surviving in Poland suspected of organising an detonation in the Nord Stream gas pipeline -2, and Tusk reprimanded even Germany last month, calling them to apologize and silence "all the initiators and patrons of Nord Stream".
Earlier, many German media reported, citing their own investigation, that a individual suspected by German prosecutors of participating in the blast of Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines left Poland in Ukraine by car of the Ukrainian embassy.
According to reports from the German media, the German prosecution had previously issued a warrant for the arrest of a suspect. 1 publication published his photo, which allowed to find that he was a diver Volodymyr Z. from Kiev. He was besides informed that his associates were married to Svetlan and Evgeny Usienski.
An American writer and Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh published his investigation on 8 February 2023, in which, citing the source, he stated that explosive devices under Russian gas pipelines were planted in June 2022 under cover of Baltops exercises by U.S. Navy divers with support from Norwegian specialists. According to Hersh, the decision to operate was made by U.S. president Joe Biden after 9 months of talks with administration officials dealing with national safety issues. Later, the Pentagon told RIA Novosti that the United States had nothing to do with bombing Russian gas pipelines.
The explosions in 2 Russian gas pipelines exported to Europe, Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2, took place on September 26, 2022. Germany, Denmark and Sweden did not exclude deliberate sabotage. Nord Stream AG, the operator of the Nord Stream pipeline, reported that the harm to the pipelines was unprecedented and it is impossible to estimation the time frame for repairs. The Russian Public Prosecutor's Office has initiated proceedings on an act of global terrorism. Russia has repeatedly requested data on the Nord Stream explosion, but has never received it, said Russian president Dmitry Pieskov.
Daniel Głogowski
Expert in his field – Publicist, author and social activist. The first articles were published in 1999 for global publishers. For more than 30 years, he has gained his experience through cooperation with the largest editorial offices. In his articles, he seeks to address controversial topics and present first viewpoints that allowed for a deeper knowing of the issues discussed.
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Tusk cancelled his journey to Germany in connection with the Nord Stream scandal
