WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk responded Saturday to reports that revived questions about who blew up the Nord Stream pipelines in 2022, saying the initiators of the gas pipeline project should “apologize and keep quiet.” The comment came after one of his deputies rejected claims that Warsaw was partly responsible for the damage.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday that Ukrainian authorities were responsible for blowing up the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in September 2022, a dramatic act of sabotage that cut Germany off from a key energy source and exacerbated Europe’s energy crisis.

Germany was Russia’s partner in the pipeline project. Poland has long stated that its own security interests would be compromised by Nord Stream.

“To all initiators and supporters of Nord Stream 1 and 2. The only thing you should do today is apologize and be silent,” Tusk wrote on the social media portal X on Saturday.

Tusk was apparently responding specifically to a claim by the former head of Germany’s foreign intelligence service BND, August Hanning, who had told the German daily Die Welt that the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines must have been supported by Poland. Hanning said Germany should consider demanding compensation from Poland and Ukraine.

Hanning, who has resigned from his post as intelligence chief, did not provide any evidence to support his claim. Some observers pointed out that he served under former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who later worked for Russian state-owned energy companies, including Nord Stream.

Krzysztof Gawkowski, Poland’s deputy prime minister and minister for digital affairs, strongly rejected reports in an interview with Polsat broadcaster on Friday that Poland and Ukraine had damaged the Nord Stream gas pipeline.

Gawkowski claimed that the former German intelligence officer’s comments were “inspired by Moscow” and aimed at destabilizing NATO countries.

“I think this is the sound of Russian disinformation,” he added.

On Wednesday, Polish prosecutors confirmed that they had received an arrest warrant for a Ukrainian wanted by Germany as a suspect in connection with the pipeline attack, but that he left the country before he could be arrested.

The Nord Stream project, in which two pipelines along the Baltic Sea floor will transport gas from Russia to Europe, has been pushed forward despite opposition from Poland, the USA and Ukraine.