Putin Responds to Tusk on Nord Stream, Citing Economic Convenience Behind Polish Stance

Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk’s remarks regarding the Nord Stream pipeline, stating that he understands the economic convenience driving Warsaw’s position.

Putin on Tusk and Nord Stream

– I have known Mr. Tusk for a long time, I knew him from the time of preparations for the construction of Nord Stream 2 and during the construction itself. Mr. Tusk was also prime minister back then. I understand the motives behind the current position of the Polish government. They are very simple – it is economic convenience, Putin said in an interview published on Sunday, August 23, for the Vesti portal.

Tusk: Shame on Those Who Built the Pipeline

Donald Tusk commented on Nord Stream, stating that those who built the pipeline should be ashamed. Putin’s statements were a reaction to Tusk’s comments regarding Volodymyr Zhuravlov, after services detained the Ukrainian man in Croatia on August 19. Certainly, Germany should not prosecute those who, in a situation where their country has been attacked, take certain actions. I will not change my mind here and I believe that those who built this gas pipeline should be ashamed, not those who shut it down, the prime minister said.

The Arrest and Legal Proceedings

Zhuravlov was wanted on the basis of a European Arrest Warrant issued by the German Federal Court of Justice in Karlsruhe, under suspicion of involvement in blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline. Zhuravlov was detained in Poland last year, but the Regional Court in Warsaw revoked his arrest and refused to extradite the man to Germany.

Kremlin Reactions from Peskov and Zakharova

– If Mr. Tusk supports acts of terrorist sabotage, it only causes astonishment and misunderstandings, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated in response to Tusk’s remarks on Zhuravlov. Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs published a statement from ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, who called the blowing up of Nord Stream a terrorist act.

You can only guess what grievances Tusk held against the former federal chancellor [Angela Merkel] during his tenure as President of the European Council, but what he said now carries a dangerously destructive charge for the remnants of the international legal system that have not yet been destroyed by the geopolitical nihilism of the collective West, Zakharova wrote.

What is it, if not a direct challenge, is Poland’s virulent appeal to its German ally to gratefully accept a terrorist attack on key German energy infrastructure facilities that guaranteed Germany tens of billions of euros in profits? reads the official statement.