NEW DELHI, March 3. /TASS/. Russia will no longer rely on Western partners in its energy policy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.
"Of course, the war that we are attempting to end and that was started by the West against us using Ukrainians has influenced Russian policy, including energy policy. <...> What has changed is that we will no longer rely on any Western partners. We won't let them blow up gas pipelines again," the minister said.
When Russia requested an investigation into the Nord Stream explosions, the minister said, "the request was immediately rejected." "The Americans called it ‘nonsense,’ and when Seymour Hersh published his findings, you could see the reaction of Europeans and Americans," Lavrov said, adding, "Germany was humiliated in every way, physical, moral, and otherwise." He noted that all current US actions aim to make Europe a "subordinate player" to Washington.
"Russia's energy policy will prioritize dependable and trustworthy partners. India and China are unquestionably among them," Lavrov concluded.
Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said earlier that Moscow has no doubts that the US is preventing Russia from participating in the probe into the explosions at the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines. "We were not allowed to involve our experts in the investigation. Neither as participants, nor as experts, including those from Gazprom. Undoubtedly, the United States is behind this," he said.
On September 27, 2022, Nord Stream AG reported unprecedented damage that occurred the day before on three strings of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 offshore gas pipelines. On September 26, 2022, Swedish seismologists registered two explosions along the pipeline routes. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office opened a criminal case on the charges of international terrorism.
On February 8, U.S. investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published an article in which he claimed, citing sources, that U.S. Navy divers had placed explosive devices under the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines under the cover of the BALTOPS exercise in June 2022, and that the Norwegians had activated the bombs three months later. According to the journalist, the decision to conduct the operation was made by US President Joe Biden personally, after nine months of discussions with White House security specialists. White House National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a comment to TASS that Hersh’s account was "utterly false and complete fiction."
At a meeting of G20 foreign ministers on March 2, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Moscow would continue to seek a prompt and impartial investigation into the sabotage of the gas pipelines. Moscow insists on its participation in this investigation, he added.