An ally of Vladimir Putin has accused the U.S. and the U.K. of intending to sabotage underwater internet cables and planning to destabilize the maritime energy trade.
In reporting the comments by Nikolai Patrushev, the Telegram channel Crimean Wind posted, “it would be funny, but such statements often sound like a cover for their own intentions.”
When contacted for comment, a British Foreign Office spokesperson told Newsweek on Tuesday: “We are not going to provide a running commentary on Russia’s conspiracy theories.”
Citing U.S. officials, CNN reported in September that Russia was developing a sabotage unit with submarines and drones to target underwater infrastructure by order of the defense ministry’s Main Directorate for Deep-Sea Research (GUGI).
Patrushev is considered one of the key drivers of Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and served as secretary of Russia’s Security Council before being moved to the position of Putin aide. He is also chairman of Russia’s maritime board.
He told the newspaper Kommersant the U.S. and the U.K. were behind the September 2022 attacks on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines which are still shrouded in mystery—and were planning others.
In the interview published on Monday, Patrushev said, “American and British special services” would have the equipment and personnel required to carry out such an operation as a means “to promote their economic interests.”
A Swedish investigation found evidence of sabotage on the pipelines between Russia and Germany. Moscow had initially accused the U.S. Probes by Sweden and Denmark were closed in February 2024 without identifying those responsible, although a German investigation is ongoing.
German authorities had reportedly issued a European arrest warrant in June for a Ukrainian national suspected of sabotaging the pipeline along with two others, using a yacht called Andromeda.
But Patrushev that the Ukrainian Navy “neither the equipment nor the trained specialists to carry out a deep-sea terrorist attack” and said that “only special forces units of NATO countries could carry out sabotage of this scale.”
