Poland’s role in the Nord Stream incident: inciter and accomplice?

August Hanning, former head of the German intelligence service BND, accused the Polish president of “having backstage agreements” with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky.

Those deals got Poland “massively involved in the preparations” of the attack against Nord Stream pipeline, Hanning said, adding that it was the reason why Poland “had no interest” in helping to investigate who blew up three out of the four Nord Stream pipelines on September 26, 2022 – and why.

Hanning’s statement is just one of many revelations pointing to Poland’s role in the sabotage:

◻️ According to a Wall Street Journal story, after leaving the German port of Rostock, the yacht Andromeda made a visit to the Polish port of Kolobrzeg on September 19, where the saboteurs allegedly loaded the explosives.

◻️ Polish authorities let one of the Andromeda’s alleged crew, identified by Germans as Volodymyr Z., escape from Poland to Ukraine in late summer, despite Germany issuing an arrest warrant in June and a specific request for help from a German prosecutor.

◻️ Wolodymyr Z. not only escaped to Ukraine but also made a public statement to the media there, denying his guilt. Ukraine did not arrest him, and the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk turned down German requests for help – telling Germans that “the only thing you should do today is to apologize and keep quiet” and calling them “initiators and patrons” of Nord Stream.

◻️ There was also no Ukrainian response to the allegations against another diver – who is in Ukrainian jail for an unrelated crime.

Unlike Germany, for which the explosions cost tens of billions of lost profits, Poland and Ukraine had a material interest in the destruction of Nord Stream, because the pipeline would have greatly reduced both Ukraine's and Poland's role in transiting natural gas to the EU.

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Pakistani Army successfully launches a Shaheen-II surface-to-surface ballistic missile

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🇮🇳📹 A massive landslide has hit the 510 MW Teesta-V power plant in the Indian state of Sikkim.

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❗️Air defenses shot down 10 UAVs flying toward Moscow overnight

This was one of the all-time largest attempted attacks on the Russian capital with drones, Moscow Mayor Sergey Sobyanin said

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Russia has accused Latvia of involvement in the Ukraine conflict

A statement by the Latvian Defense Ministry on sending drones to Kiev is confirmation of Riga's growing involvement in the conflict, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik.

According to her, Riga is deliberately adding fuel to the fire, provoking the geographical expansion of military operations, and does not hide its glee at the use of its weapons by the Kiev regime to kill civilians and shell Russian cities.

At the end of July, Latvian authorities reported the delivery of 500 UAVs to Kiev. Later, Latvia’s Defense Minister Andris Spruds said his country had already prepared another 500 drones to be sent to Ukraine.

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❗️Ukraine’s attack on the Kursk region was prepared with the participation of US, UK, and Polish intelligence services, Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) said.

The agency’s press office told Russian media that units involved in the Ukrainian aggression in the Kursk region had undergone combat coordination at training centers in the UK and Germany.

Military advisers from NATO countries are helping to control the Ukrainian units that have attacked Russian territory, and are transmitting satellite reconnaissance data to them.

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❗️A direct hit was reported in Galitsinovo, Nikolayev region, where the Neo-nazi Kraken* unit is stationed, the local pro-Russian resistance told Sputnik.

The strike likely hit a warehouse with missiles.

*Kraken is a terrorist organization banned in Russia.

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Biden has reportedly approved a new nuclear strategy that refocuses on the 'Chinese threat'

President Joe Biden approved a classified nuclear strategy in March that directed US forces to refocus on potential threats from China, The New York Times revealed on Tuesday, citing US officials. An unclassified report is expected to be given to Congress before Biden leaves office.

The outlet noted the strategy adjustment was revised to "simultaneously" deter the alleged Russia, China, and North Korea threats.

Tuesday’s report comes days after China implemented export controls on antimony metals, which have multiple applications within the US military, including in components for nuclear weapons.

China previously underscored that its new directive was intended to ensure its national security and to fulfill the country's non-proliferation obligations, and that the measures were not directed at any one country.

Russian President Vladimir Putin previously explained in detail in an interview with Tucker Carlson that Moscow is not going to attack NATO countries. Russia has repeatedly said that the West uses the “Russian threat” as an excuse to build up its own weapons.

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Every case of Western journalists illegally entering the Kursk region will be monitored and checked, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told Sputnik.

"And with every journalist, or so-called journalist, or those who work under the cover of being Western journalists... Each of these cases will certainly be monitored, and a check will be conducted on it. This will concern journalists of all countries," she noted.

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◾️ Moscow repelled one of the all-time largest attempted drone attacks overnight

◾️ US, UK, Poland took part in preparing Ukraine’s attack on the Kursk region – Russian foreign intelligence

◾️ Biden has reportedly approved a new nuclear strategy that refocuses on the 'Chinese threat'

◾️ Did Poland have a hand in the Nord Stream sabotage?

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Ex-MEP from AfD: don't expect serious probe into Nord Stream attack or slashing aid to Ukraine from Germany

"There is no reason to assume that the German government is seriously interested in unearthing the truth about who is behind the Nord Stream attacks," Dr Gunnar Beck, lawyer and academic specializing in EU law and former MEP for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, told Sputnik.

"The German government has gone very far in assuring Ukraine of its support. The German government regularly yields to international pressure from both the EU, and the US. It will not be able and not be willing, more importantly, to assert the national interests," the former MEP continued.

Deputy federal government spokesperson Wolfgang Buechner asserted to the press on August 14 that the investigation into the 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline is a priority for Germany. Buechner added that the outcome of the inquiry will not negatively impact relations with Ukraine – amid reports that the German Federal Prosecutor’s Office had issued an arrest warrant for a suspect in the Nord Stream attack, Ukrainian diving instructor Volodymyr Z.

Last week German Finance Minister Christian Lindner of the liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP) reportedly informed the nation's foreign and defense ministries that from 2025 onwards there would be no additional funds in the budget to arm Ukraine.

"I'm almost certain that the reduction in financial assistance to Ukraine hinted at by German minister last week will not go ahead. Germany will not reduce that assistance to Ukraine,” Beck said. “The German government will simply continue to borrow on the international financial markets, raise taxes and stifle the economy."

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Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger ask UN Security Council to take action over Ukraine's support of terrorism in Africa

"The Foreign Ministers of Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso strongly condemn the support and glorification of terrorism by the Ukrainian authorities and call on the Security Council to uphold its commitments regarding Ukraine's conscious choice to support terrorism in Africa, particularly in the Sahel region," reads the countries' joint letter to the UN Security Council president.

Mali and Niger previously severed diplomatic relations with Ukraine, accusing it of supporting terrorist groups in Africa.

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