UNITED NATIONS, March 31. /TASS/. The West will not be able to "sweep under the carpet" the topic of sabotage on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said in an exclusive interview with TASS. Russia will take the chair of the UN Security Council in April.
According to the diplomat, when voting on March 27 in the UN Security Council on a draft resolution on the establishment of an international commission to investigate the circumstances of sabotage, the United States and its allies "preferred to hide behind the "front" of convenient national investigations in Germany, Denmark and Sweden."
"The tactics of our Western colleagues do not surprise us - after all, as we once again became convinced from the recent investigation of the autoritative American journalist Seymour Hersh, all the evidence points to who is behind the explosions on the Nord Stream," Nebenzya said.
"The behavior of the United States and Western countries during the discussion of this topic at the Council platform, including the eloquent silence of the American delegates in response to the reminder of the threats against the gas pipeline from the American leadership, only reinforces these suspicions. But unfortunately for their Western colleagues they will not be able to "sweep under the carpet" this topic. We will continue to strive to ensure that the true circumstances of what happened are established, and all those responsible are punished," the diplomat stressed.
Nebenzya noted that during the discussion of this initiative, Russia’s representatives showed "the most flexible and responsible approach, and a balanced text was put to a vote, taking into account the concerns expressed by states."
"Its adoption was supported by such major players as China and Brazil. However, the United States and its allies, of course, did not come out in favor," the diplomat stated.
He noted that "investigations in Germany, Denmark and Sweden, whose objectivity is questionable" for Russia "given that the authorities of these countries, without any clear reason, refused to cooperate" with the Russian competent authorities.
Russian-Chinese resolution
On Monday, the UN Security Council did not support a resolution by Russia and China on an international investigation into the sabotage at the Nord Stream pipelines. The document was supported by three countries, with no votes against and 12 countries abstaining. Thus, the resolution did not garner the nine votes necessary for approval. Russia, China and Brazil voted for it, while Albania, the UK, Gabon, Ghana, Malta, Mozambique, the UAE, the US, France, Switzerland, Ecuador and Japan abstained. Belarus, Venezuela, North Korea, Nicaragua, Syria and Eritrea were also among the resolution’s coauthors but they are not members of the UN Security Council and did not participate in the vote.
The resolution’s draft proposed to entrust UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres with establishing an independent international investigation commission "to conduct a comprehensive, transparent and impartial international investigation of all aspects of the act of sabotage on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines — including identifying its perpetrators, sponsors, organizers and accomplices."
Full text of the interview is published on TASS website: https://tass.com/politics/1596965.