West rejects Putin’s claim it sabotaged Baltic pipelines

By JAN M. OLSEN
Associated Press

COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused the West of sabotaging the Russia-built gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea to Germany. Putin claimed that the West had turned from sanctions to “terror attacks,” sabotaging the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in what he described as an attempt to “destroy the European energy infrastructure.” The White House claimed Putin’s comments were outlandish and just an attempt to distract the world from his annexation on Friday of four parts of Ukraine. The comments came ahead of an emergency meeting Friday at the U.N. Security Council in New York. Denmark and Sweden said blasts that preceded the huge methane leaks probably involved “several hundred kilos (pounds)” of explosives.