The Kremlin said on Thursday that incidents on two major undersea gas pipelines from Russia to Germany look like acts of state-sponsored "terrorism".
"It is very difficult to imagine that such an act of a terrorism could have happen without the involvement of a state of some kind. This is a very dangerous situation which requires an urgent investigation."
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov
The European Union is investigating major leaks in the Gazprom-led Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines under the Baltic Sea and has said it suspects sabotage.
"This looks like an act of terrorism, possibly on a state level," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a daily call.
"It is very difficult to imagine that such an act of terrorism could have happened without the involvement of a state of some kind," Peskov said. "This is a very dangerous situation which requires an urgent investigation."
Russia called on Thursday for an international investigation into ruptures of the Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea to be "objective," amid an escalating war of words between Moscow and the West over responsibility for the still-unexplained damage.
In a press briefing, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also said the United States would have to "explain itself," referring to comments President Joe Biden made in February when he said "there will no longer be a Nord Stream 2" if Russia sent troops into Ukraine.
Russia spotted at the scene of the crime
The US news channel CNN, citing three sources, reported that European security officials had observed Russian navy support ships and submarines not far from the sites of the Nord Stream leaks.
Asked for a comment on the CNN report, Peskov said there had been a much larger NATO presence in the area.