Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the presidential administration in Kyiv, said on Tuesday that Kyiv “has absolutely no involvement” in last year’s attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipeline and has no information about what happened, writes Agerpres.

Mykhailo PodolyakPhoto: Hennadiy Minchenko/Ukrinform/NurPhoto / Shutterstock Editorial / Profimedia

Mykhailo Podolyak stated this in a statement to the Reuters agency after the publication in The New York Times of information with reference to American officials. They assumed that a pro-Ukrainian group was responsible for the attacks.

Information reviewed by US officials indicates that last year’s attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipeline were carried out by a pro-Ukraine group, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.

There is no evidence that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi or his senior aides were involved in the operation or that the attackers acted on the instructions of a Ukrainian government official, the newspaper said, citing US officials.

Reuters said it could not independently verify the information and could not immediately reach US officials for comment.

Russia believes New York Times report “justifies efforts for international investigation”

Deputy Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Dmytro Polyansky said on Tuesday that the information that appeared in the New York Times about who may be responsible for the attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipeline “only proves that our initiative to launch an international investigation under the auspices of of the UN Secretary General is very timely,” writes Reuters.

Thus, by the end of March, Russia intends to initiate a vote in the UN Security Council on its draft resolution with a demand to Secretary General Antonio Guterres to start such an investigation, Dmytro Polyanskyi said.

The US and NATO called the attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipeline last September an “act of sabotage”, while Moscow blamed the West and asked the UN Security Council to conduct an independent investigation. Neither side presented evidence.

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