Putin: Blasts disrupted ties with Berlin
By REN QI in Moscow | China Daily Global | Updated: 2023-12-06 09:53
Cooperation between Moscow and Berlin had been disrupted by last September's blasts affecting Nord Stream pipelines that had pumped Russian gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea, Russian President Vladimir Putin has said.
Putin made the remarks on Monday while accepting the credentials of more than 20 new foreign ambassadors to Russia, including those of Germany and the United Kingdom, at a Kremlin ceremony.
"The current frozen state of Germany's relations with Russia — and this is not on our initiative, I want to emphasize — is unprofitable. It is unprofitable both for us and for you, but especially, in my view, for Germany," Putin said.
"Energy has always been an attractive area of bilateral cooperation. This cooperation was literally disrupted by the sabotage on the Nord Stream pipelines."
Russia's relations with the West are at the lowest level since the Cold War due to its special military operation in Ukraine. Russia has blamed the United States, the UK and Ukraine for the pipeline blasts. They have all denied any involvement.
He said a more just multipolar world order will inevitably replace the old unipolar system, calling this transition an "objective process" which is also "irreversible".
On the battlefield, Russian Major General Vladimir Zavadsky, deputy commander of the 14th Army Corps of the Northern Fleet, had died while on duty in Ukraine, an official said on Monday, the latest high-ranking Russian military figure to die during the 21-month conflict.
The conflict continues as Russia and Ukraine meet historic cold weather this winter.
The White House issued a stark warning on Monday that US aid for Ukraine will run out by the end of the year, saying that if Congress fails to agree on funding, it will "kneecap" Kyiv's fight.
"We are out of money — and nearly out of time," White House budget director Shalanda Young said in a blunt letter to Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson, reflecting President Joe Biden's growing frustration with a congressional stalemate, Agence France-Presse commented.
