"The situation surrounding the Nord Stream explosion requires an independent international investigation involving senior experts. And what is happening now is nothing other than large-scale sabotage and concealment at the government level," said Leonid Slutsky, chairman of the International Committee of the Russian State Duma (lower house), and leader of the Russian free Democratic Party (LDPR).
The hypothesis of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 sabotage by a "group of Ukrainian divers" was not convincing in any professional analysis, the Russian lawmaker said, similar to "other allegations".
"Who would allow well- equipped divers to carry explosives and travel and diving freely just a few hundred meters from a NATO military base? More than that, many times?" - he added.
Leonid Slutsky also said that Germany is trying to avoid an independent, objective investigation into the terrorist attack on the Nord Stream gas pipeline.
"Nearly three years after the blast, both the perpetrators and the real culprit have not been identified," he stressed.
This week, Die Welt quoted an unnamed German investigator as saying that the crew of the Andromeda cruise ship blew up the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines under the orders of then-Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny, who is now Ukraine's Ambassador to the UK.
In September 2022, explosions caused severe damage to two branches of the Nord Stream pipeline and one branch of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.
