WARSAW: Polish Deputy Prime Minister Krzysztof Gawkowski on Friday denied Poland’s involvement in the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, which occurred in September 2022.
Speaking to TV channel Polsat News, Gawkowski rejected the allegations, stating, “Poland did not participate in any such activity. It must be clearly said that this is a lie.”
Gawkowski’s comments followed accusations from former German intelligence chief August Hanning, who led the agency from 1998 to 2005. Hanning had suggested that Poland collaborated with Ukraine on the sabotage. Kyiv has also strongly denied any involvement.
Hanning, in an interview with Die Welt daily, stated, “It appears that a Ukrainian team was responsible, according to the investigation’s findings,” and argued that Polish authorities were involved. He called for Germany to seek compensation from both Kyiv and Warsaw.
Gawkowski dismissed these claims as “Russian disinformation” and suggested that they might be intended to create divisions among NATO member states. “Either they are influenced by Moscow or they know this will lead to discord among NATO members,” he said.
On Wednesday, Polish prosecutors informed AFP that Berlin had issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian diver residing in Poland, accused of involvement in the pipeline blasts. However, Warsaw reported that the diver left the country before he could be apprehended.
Ukraine responded to the accusations on Thursday, calling them “absolute nonsense” following a detailed report in the Wall Street Journal.
The Nord Stream pipelines, which connected Russia to Germany under the Baltic Sea, came under intense scrutiny after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The pipelines experienced several large gas leaks in September 2022, with seismic records indicating underwater explosions just before the leaks were detected.
