Russia regrets lack of UNSC support on probe into Nord Stream blasts

MOSCOW: The Kremlin on Tuesday regretted the decision by the UN Security Council (UNSC) to reject Russia's request for an international investigation into the Nord Stream pipeline explosions last September, reported Anadolu Agency.

However, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow will continue its efforts for an objective probe of the September 2022 pipeline blasts that ruptured the Nord Stream gas pipelines.

"We believe that everyone should be interested in an objective investigation involving all interested parties, all those who can shed light on the customers and perpetrators of this terrorist act," said Peskov in a press briefing in Moscow when asked what steps Russia plans to take further.

The UN Security Council on Monday did not support the Russian-Chinese resolution, which called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to create an international independent commission "to conduct a comprehensive, transparent and impartial investigation of all aspects of the act of sabotage on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream-2 gas pipelines, including to identify the perpetrators, sponsors, organizers of the sabotage and their accomplices," reported Anadolu Agency.

Peskov reiterated to "do everything in our power" to hold an international investigation, reported Anadolu Agency.

"We consider this extremely important, we regret that the initiative did not pass, but, of course, the Russian side will continue to go to prevent this topic from being hushed up," he added. Russia, China and Brazil voted in favour of the draft resolution, while the remaining 12 council members abstained. At least nine votes in favour are needed to pass a draft resolution in the 15-member council.

The Nord Stream pipelines, which carried Russian natural gas to northern Germany via the Baltic Sea, were ruptured in a series of blasts on Sept. 26 last year, causing leaks in what officials from countries in the region called "likely sabotage."

Last September, a series of leaks were reported in the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipelines, multi-billion dollar projects to carry natural gas from Russia to Germany through the Baltic Sea.

After an examination, both Sweden and Denmark, in whose jurisdiction the leaks happened, said the leaks took place because someone deliberately bombed the pipelines.

However, they did not reveal who was responsible for the attack. Russia accused the US of having direct involvement in the explosions, which severely damaged the pipelines.

Moreover, American investigative journalist and political writer Seymour Hersh claimed that the September 2022 bombing of the undersea Nord Stream gas pipelines was carried out by the US in a covert operation, according to the findings of his investigation published in Substack.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hersh noted that the decision to damage the pipelines occurred after more than nine months of top-secret debates inside the Washington intelligence community.

In the immediate aftermath of the pipeline bombing, the American media treated it like an unsolved mystery. Russia was repeatedly cited as a likely culprit, spurred on by calculated leaks from the White House--but without ever establishing a clear motive for such an act of self-sabotage, beyond simple retribution.

NATO and Washington viewed Nord Stream 1 as problematic enough, but the completion of Nord Stream 2 in September 2021 heightened American anxieties even further. If approved by German regulatory authorities, it would double the flow of inexpensive gas to Germany and Western Europe, said Hersh. Its capacity may accommodate more than fifty per cent of the nation's annual usage.

The US viewed Europe's reliance on Russian gas as a risk to Ukraine's backing, as countries like Germany could be unwilling to contribute the necessary funds and weaponry. However, US President Joe Biden's administration has denied the allegations and called the report "utterly false and complete fiction".