Russia’s defense ministry said on Saturday that British naval personnel blew up the Nord Stream gas pipeline last month, directly accusing the key NATO member of sabotaging critical Russian infrastructure.

The Ministry of Defense did not provide evidence for its claim.

“According to available information, representatives of this naval unit of Great Britain participated in the planning, provision and implementation of a terrorist attack in the Baltic Sea on September 26 this year – the blowing up of the Nord Stream-1 and Nord Stream-2 gas pipelines,” he said. – said the Russian ministry.

Britain on Saturday denied Russian claims that British naval personnel blew up the Nord Stream gas pipeline last month, calling them “false claims of an epic scale,” Reuters reported.

“To divert attention from the disastrous way in which it handled the illegal invasion of Ukraine, the Russian Ministry of Defense is resorting to selling false claims on an epic scale,” said a spokesman for the British Ministry of Defense.

“This latest fabricated story says more about the infighting within the Russian government than it does about the West,” the British official added.

Russia accuses the US of having grounds for undermining pipelines

Russia previously blamed the West for last month’s explosions that damaged the Russian-built Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines at the bottom of the Baltic Sea.

But Russia has never yet provided specific details about who was responsible for the damage to the pipelines, which used to be the largest routes for Russian gas supplies to Europe.

The Kremlin has repeatedly called accusations that Russia was responsible for the accidents “silly,” and Russian officials have argued that Washington had a motive because it wants to sell more liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe.

The United States denies involvement.

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Moscow also accuses Great Britain of involvement in the drone attack on the Russian fleet

The Russian military also accused Ukraine and the United Kingdom of a massive drone attack by the Russian Black Sea Fleet on the Crimean peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014, which resulted in “minor damage” to the ship, AFP reported, citing news.ro. .

“The preparation of this terrorist attack and the training of servicemen of the 73rd Ukrainian Naval Special Operations Center were carried out by British specialists stationed in Okean, Mykolaiv region in Ukraine,” the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation accuses.

These ships participate in the protection of convoys transporting Ukrainian grain, they say in Moscow.