Russia’s Foreign Ministry has denied involvement in recent Baltic Sea sabotage attacks on Thursday and accused the US government of drawing the world’s energy industry into a “hybrid war”.
Just days after the US imposed sweeping sanctions on the Russian oil industry, NATO committed to a new strategy in the Baltic Sea designed to protect critical undersea infrastructure including pipelines from sabotage attacks it said are linked to Russian shadow fleets.
However, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova on Thursday denied Russia’s involvement in the sabotage attacks. She also referred to an earlier statement from the Russian ministry that claimed the US sanctions were part of a “hybrid” war being waged by the White House.
“The real purpose of all this is to limit Russian oil exports by any means necessary… and to create the preconditions for the introduction of arbitrary restrictions on international shipping in the Baltic Sea,” Zakharova told reporters on Thursday.
Russian involvement in the attacks was a “myth” perpetuated by NATO, she said.
“Despite the convulsions in the White House and the machinations of the Russophobic lobby in the West, which is trying to drag the world energy industry into the “hybrid war” unleashed by the United States against Russia, our country has been and remains a key and reliable player in the global fuel market,” the ministry said in response to the sanctions.
Spying and sabotage attacks on energy and telecommunications infrastructure in European waters have increased markedly since Russia invaded Ukraine as part of a Kremlin-directed campaign to deter Ukraine’s allies in Europe.
NATO members also plan to review freedom of navigation laws in an effort to crack down on the presence of Russian shadow fleets around the Baltic Sea.
Thursday’s statement is not the first time Russia has spoken out on the issue. In November, Zakharova told reporters: “The Baltic Sea will always remain a common space for all countries in the region without exception.”
Russia hosts two major oil export ports on the Baltic Sea, Primorsk and Ust-Luga, from where the country’s oil producers send their output to customers in India and China.
Both ports account for about 60% of Russia’s total oil shipments from its six ports in the European part of the country, according to independently collected and assessed data on the movement of oil tankers.
Source: Rebecca Conan and Vladimir Afanasiev from upstreamonline.com