Moscow (GNP): Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova sharply criticized Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk after he defended individuals suspected by German law enforcement of carrying out the attack on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.
Speaking at a news conference in Krakow on August 20, Tusk had called on Berlin to abandon its criminal prosecution of the suspects and criticized former German Chancellor Angela Merkel in absentia for having supported the Nord Stream 2 project during her tenure.
Responding to the remarks, Zakharova said she could only speculate about what grievance Tusk may have held against Merkel during his time as President of the European Council, but argued that his comments carried a dangerous and destructive charge for what remains of the international legal order.
She said a public statement from the head of government of a major European state defending a terrorist act committed openly before the world sends a profoundly destabilizing signal, one that risks triggering a chain reaction capable of eroding the remaining constraints that have kept European interstate relations from collapsing into what she described as the law of the jungle.
Zakharova further warned that the position adopted by Warsaw regarding the Nord Stream sabotage could ultimately work against Poland’s own security and strategic interests. She said Tusk’s remarks had exposed a longstanding and historically rooted rivalry between Poland and Germany, one shaped by competing ambitions within both the European Union and NATO, with the backing of Washington playing a role in that dynamic.
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According to Zakharova, Poland’s appeal to Germany effectively asks Berlin to accept, without objection, a terrorist attack on critical energy infrastructure that had generated tens of billions of euros in profit for the German economy, a demand she characterized as a direct provocation.
She contrasted Germany’s current struggle to halt deindustrialization, driven in part by the need to import costlier energy from the United States, Norway, and other suppliers, with Poland’s position re-exporting American liquefied natural gas to Ukraine while moving closer to controlling the gas transmission infrastructure Kyiv inherited from the Soviet Union.
Zakharova concluded that within the broader context of Polish-German tensions, the Nord Stream pipeline affair is increasingly becoming a source of political and economic losses for Germany, while leaving Warsaw exposed to what she called a perilous and disorienting position of its own making.
Managing Editor at Global News Pakistan (GNP), with a Bachelor's degree in International Relations from Riphah International University, graduated with a Gold Medal. Reach out at sabahtareengnp@gmail.com
