RT-Engels: 22-08-2024,
The Czech Republic’s Petr Pavel went too far by claiming the Nord Stream pipelines were a “legitimate target” for Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry has said
Czech President Petr Pavel sounded like an international terrorist when he claimed that the Nord Stream gas pipelines were a “legitimate target” for Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.
Pavel made the remarks in response to an article in the Wall Street Journal, which reported last week that Kiev had carried out the September 2022 sabotage that ruptured the key infrastructure built to deliver Russian gas to Germany and the rest of Western Europe.
Speaking to the Novinky.cz news outlet on Wednesday, the Czech president argued that if the Nord Stream attack “was aimed at cutting off gas and oil supplies to Europe and [the flow of] money back to Russia, then… it would be a legitimate target [for Ukraine].” Pavel stressed, however, that he does not have “clear incriminating” proof that Kiev was behind the sabotage.
Responding to Pavel’s remarks, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zakharova wrote in a Telegram post on Wednesday that they were “too much, even for such an eccentric fringe [figure].”
“Previously, such ‘ideas’ were only voiced by representatives of banned international terrorist cells,” she added.
As an example, Zakharova shared calls by senior figures in Islamic State (IS,