Britain’s Royal Navy helped to execute the “terrorist attack” which damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines from Russia to the European Union, the Russian defence ministry has alleged.
The Russian ministry levelled the allegation at Britain’s senior military service in a news bulletin centred primarily on what they claimed was an attempted “terrorist attack against the ships of the Black Sea Fleet and civilian ships” on Saturday morning by Ukrainian drones in the vicinity of Sevastopol, Crimea, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014.
“The preparation of this terrorist act and the training of military personnel of 73rd Marine Special Operations Centre were carried out under supervision of British specialists in the city of Ochakov, Nikolayev region in Ukraine,” the Russian statement, posted on Telegram, asserted, without providing supporting evidence.
“According to available information, representatives of this unit of the British Navy took part in the planning, provision and implementation of a terrorist attack in the Baltic Sea on September 26 this year — blowing up the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines,” they added — again, without providing supporting evidence.
BREAKING: Russia’s Defence Ministry say representatives of a British Navy unit blew up the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. They are calling the incident a “terrorist attack”. https://t.co/PAiZ4D1jU3
📺 Sky 501, Virgin 602, Freeview 233 and YouTube pic.twitter.com/98gP0VGhRt
— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 29, 2022
Of the attempted “terrorist attack” against the Black Sea Fleet, the Russians claimed that their vessels — which they said were “involved in ensuring the security of the ‘grain corridor’ as part of an international initiative to export agricultural products from Ukrainian ports” — were targeted by “nine unmanned aerial vehicles and seven autonomous maritime drones.”
They claimed all of the aerial drones and most of the maritime drones were “annihilated by shipborne weapons and maritime aviation” but that one minesweeper and a floating net boom sustained “minor” damage.
Russian forces have themselves been accused of targeting Ukrainian infrastructure — particularly energy infrastructure — with Iranian drones in recent weeks, causing substantial degradation of the invaded country’s grid as the winter months approach.
As the Russians have accused the British navy of planning and directing Ukrainian drone attacks, so have the Ukrainians accused Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of supporting and directing Russian drone attacks.
PICS: ‘Kamikaze’ Drones Rain Down on Kyiv https://t.co/02HhDMClKp
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) October 17, 2022
This story is developing…
