Dutch Governing Parties Demand Explanation of Ukraine’s Link to Nord Stream Sabotage
Geert Wilders, 2024. Photo: X/ @Chapiro
August 15, 2024 Hour: 7:36 am
‘The Government must clarify if Ukraine is behind the attack! This could have major consequences,’ Wilders stated.
Two government parties in the Netherlands, including Geert Wilders’ far-right PVV, have requested explanations and warned of potential consequences for military support to Ukraine if it is confirmed that Kyiv was aware of the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which transported gas from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea.
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Wilders, whose party holds the majority in the government that took office in July, submitted several parliamentary questions to the cabinet, asking them to clarify “whether it is true that President Volodymyr Zelensky was aware of the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines and initially approved it.”
“Can you confirm whether President Zelensky was aware of the attack, even though he later halted it after others found out?” Wilders asked in a document tweeted under the title, “The Government must clarify if Ukraine is behind the attack! This could have major consequences,” he stated.
The Wall Street Journal published an exclusive report this Thursday on how the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage between Russia and Germany was planned in September 2022. The report claims that Zelensky initially approved the plan but later attempted to cancel it, albeit unsuccessfully.
If this is confirmed, it should have consequences for Dutch military support to Ukraine, but it is still too early to definitively point fingers at Kyiv, warned Henk Vermeer, the foreign affairs spokesperson for BBB, the farmers’ party and a government coalition partner, on Dutch public radio.
“We don’t know yet. If a Dutch person commits an attack somewhere, it doesn’t automatically mean that the Netherlands is behind it or gave the order. It could involve terrorist groups, a state, or theoretically even Ukraine… Of course, it could have major consequences, but that can only be determined when we know who gave the order,” Vermeer stated.
Yesterday, it was revealed that Berlin issued an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian citizen, a diving instructor living in Poland, due to his alleged involvement in the Nord Stream sabotage, according to an investigation by the public television channel ARD, the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, and the weekly Die Zeit, which point to Ukrainian involvement in the sabotage.
The PVV’s ties to Russia have been one of the major concerns during government negotiations in the first half of the year, with fears that the far-right might seek to end military, financial, and political aid to Ukraine after winning the elections last November. After taking office in early July, the government reiterated its support for Kyiv and promised to continue assistance against Russian aggression.
teleSUR/ JF Source: Xinhua
