Attempts to hush up Nord Stream inquiry are doomed to fail – Russia’s envoy to UN
According to Vasily Nebenzi, the tactics of Western countries are to delay the investigation of sabotage
UNITED NATIONS, September 27. /TASS/. All attempts by Western countries to somehow sweep under the rug the findings of inquiries into the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage are doomed to fail, Russian Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya said.
"No doubt that today we will again hear our Western colleagues reprimand Russia for distracting the Security Council from more serious problems by insisting on holding this discussion of the terrorist attack against the Nord Stream. This tactic is not void of reason and quite understandable. They want to drag it out as long as they can, ideally for another year, or two, or three, and then state that the investigation no longer be possible due to the time passed," the Russian diplomat told the UN Security Council on Tuesday.
Russia’s envoy to the UN said that Moscow "will continue to seek an objective and thorough establishment of all the circumstances of the incident, with the obligatory involvement of Russian investigative bodies and interested parties, as well as bringing to justice all those who ordered and perpetrated the sabotage."
"To that end, we will use all means available, including in the Security Council," Nebenzya added.
On September 27 last year, Nord Stream AG reported "unprecedented damage" a day earlier on three strings of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 offshore pipelines. Swedish seismologists had recorded two explosions on the offshore routes of the pipelines on September 26. The Russian Prosecutor General's Office launched criminal proceedings over an act of international terrorism after the gas pipelines were damaged.
On February 8, US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published an article claiming, citing anonymous sources, that US Navy divers had planted explosive devices under the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines under the cover of the BALTOPS naval exercise in June 2022, and that the Norwegians then activated the bombs three months later. According to the journalist, the decision to conduct the operation was made by US President Joe Biden personally, following nine months of discussions with White House national security advisers.