ISLAMABAD/MOSCOW: President of Russia Vladimir Putin said Germany’s response to the explosion of North Sea pipelines showed that the country remained “occupied” and unable to act decades after its surrender at the end of World War Two independently.
Putin told Russian television that European leaders had been browbeaten into losing their sense of sovereignty and independence.
Western nations, including Germany, have reacted cautiously to investigations into the blasts that targeted Russia’s Nord Stream gas pipelines last year, saying they believe it was a deliberate act but did not say who they think was responsible.
“The issue is that European politicians have said themselves publicly that after World War II, Germany was never a fully sovereign state,” Putin told the state Rossiya-1 TV channel.
Americans continue to occupy Germany
“The Soviet Union at one point withdrew its forces and ended what amounted to an occupation of the country. But that, as is well known, was not the case with the Americans. They continue to occupy Germany.”
Putin told the interviewer the blasts were carried out on a “state level” and dismissed as “complete nonsense” suggestions that an independent pro-Ukraine group was responsible.
The pipelines were intended to bring Moscow’s gas to Germany, though, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a year ago, Berlin has taken steps to reduce its reliance on Russian hydrocarbons.
Leaders in Germany had been careful about apportioning blame for the explosions. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius said last week the blasts could have been a “false-flag operation to blame Ukraine.”
