During his visit to Washington last week for talks with President Biden, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the two countries view the Russian-European gas pipeline project as a “threat to European energy security”, and that they will continue to jointly oppose it.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov dismissed as “nonsense” President Zelensky's claims that the Nord Stream 2 energy infrastructure poses a threat to Europe's energy security.
Peskov suggested that Zelensky's claims were part of the broader Western project of turning Ukraine into an ‘anti-Russia', and recalled that along with Kiev's hostile position on Nord Stream 2, the country's leaders have also expressed a desire to join NATO, with the US promising to accept Ukraine into the alliance if it meets certain conditions. “This is a direct threat to Russia. This is the potential future approach of NATO military infrastructure toward our borders,” the president's spokesman stressed.
The ‘house arrest' remarks were a likely reference to the detention of Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian lawmaker and tycoon who leads the Opposition Platform – For Life party, and whose house arrest was recently prolonged until 31 October. Medvedchuk has been under house arrest since May, and is accused of funding anti-Kiev forces in the country's east. The businessman has denied the charges and called them politically motivated….
