In an interview with the website of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, Morteza Makki referred to the report of the Ministry of Defense of Russia that members of the British Navy were responsible for the terrorist attack and blowing up the Nord Stream pipeline in the Baltic Sea, adding: Since the beginning of the war between Russia and Ukraine, Britain has been one of the financial, political and military supporters of Ukraine, and Boris Johnson, the former British Prime Minister, visited Kiev three times during the war.

Saying that Britain is the only country among European countries that has fulfilled all its military promises to help Ukraine, he added: Britain provides military training to units of the Ukrainian army and in terms of media, creates a complex and widespread soft war against Russia. In addition, Britain is at the forefront of cyber confrontation with Russia and provides the most cyber aid to Ukraine. In this field, the Russian government always tries to blame the United States and Britain for supporting the Ukrainian government and for issues such as the explosion in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines.

The expert on Europe affairs continued: Such an interpretation by the Russian government is not without planning, and in the field of the great battle in Ukraine, which has practically turned into a war between Russia and the United States and European governments, the Russians are definitely trying to manage it in media and psychological terms to have an appropriate response to the actions taken by the other parties so that the possible future actions against the British government would be justifiable and convincing, at least for the Russian domestic public opinion. As the Russian Ministry of Defense claimed, British experts were involved in the drone attacks of the Ukrainian forces on the ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol.

Makki pointed to the reports about the hacking of the phone of Liz Truss, the former Prime Minister of Britain, who wrote “it’s done” in a text message to the US Secretary of State shortly after the explosion of the Nord Stream pipeline, as well as Russia’s criticism of the weakening of global energy security and the role of the Anglo-Saxons in that attack, saying: This accusation has always been filed that the United States and Britain are seeking to close at least the loopholes through which the European governments can still negotiate with the Russians or receive their needed energy through them.

He added: It cannot be denied that there has been a deep gap between the US and Britain with the European governments in facing Russia, and Russia’s attack on Ukraine put the European governments, especially Germany and France, in a dilemma, which forced them to accompany and align with the US and Britain. However, in the months that have passed since the Ukraine crisis, there have been doubts between the French and German governments on how to deal with Russia. Perhaps the Europeans were hoping that the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines could still remain operational for the days to come.

He reminded: In the report submitted to the UN Security Council, Sweden and Denmark declared the explosion of hundreds of kilos of TNT underwater as the cause of the destruction of the Nord Stream gas transmission pipeline and gas leakage, and emphasized that the intensity of the explosions in the gas transmission pipeline from Russia to Europe is measured at 2.3 and 2.1 respectively on the Richter scale, which is probably equivalent to an explosive bomb of hundreds of kilos.

According to the expert on Europe affairs; If what the Russians have put forward about the cause of the explosion in that pipeline is correct, it shows that Britain seriously wants to disappoint Germany and France from Russian energy and cut bilateral relations between Europe and Russia in the field of energy, so that European countries are forced to move towards using expensive resources, whether liquefied natural gas (LNG) from outside, or new clean technologies.

While explaining the economic consequences that European countries have suffered after the war in Ukraine, as well as the increase in energy prices in those countries, Makki continued: Definitely, NATO’s influence and presence in Europe has become wider and more serious after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, and its existential philosophy compared to the past has become stronger. Governments such as France, which sought independent European security arrangements, should forget this issue due to the developments taking place in Europe.

He added: France, Germany and other European countries are trying to manage the energy crisis to some extent and so far they have been able to complete at least their gas reserves for the next few months. Although they have suffered many pressures, but with savings and gas supply from various sources in the US and North Africa, it seems that they will not have a harder winter than expected.

The analyst of Europe affairs noted: The war in Ukraine is a vast war that has left a deep impact on the geopolitics of Europe and the political and security equations of the world which, returning to the past is unimaginable. Under such circumstances, even if the explosion of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines was really caused by the British government, the situation is not as such that it will leave the hands of the European governments free to react to Britain.

Referring to the heavy cost that the war in Ukraine has imposed on Europe, Makki recalled: Joseph Burrell, the head of the foreign and security policy of the European Union, announced at the meeting of the foreign ministers of the G7 countries that the Union has spent 22 billion euros on Ukraine in 2022, which of course, does not include military aid and direct supply of weapons from EU member states. In addition, it will soon announce a mechanism to allocate about 18 billion euros of additional aid to Ukraine in 2023.