Putin Claims Germany is Still Occupied and Denies Ukrainian Involvement in Pipeline Blasts

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Germany's response to the explosion on North Sea pipelines showed that the country remained "occupied" and unable to act independently decades after its surrender at the end of World War Two. Putin also said European leaders had been browbeaten into losing their sense of sovereignty and independence. Western countries, including Germany, have reacted cautiously to investigations into the blasts which hit Russia's Nord Stream gas pipelines last year, saying they believe they were a deliberate act, but declining to say who they think was responsible.