MOSCOW, February 9. /TASS/. The investigation carried out by Seymour Hersh on the Nord Stream gas pipelines was neither sensational nor unexpected for Russia, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told a news conference on Thursday, adding that Moscow assumed the US was involved.

"As far as Seymour Hersh’s investigation is concerned, of course, we have studied his publication thoroughly and attentively. It contains nothing sensational or unexpected to us," he said. "We assumed the involvement of the US and at least some of Washington's NATO allies in this outrageous crime, which was an armed attack on a key element of critical infrastructure," he said.

Russia understood before that the West would present the case in such a way that "the investigation is ongoing and, until it is completed, one should not interfere in it, much less 'let Russian specialists get close to it’," Ryabkov said. "Here it is hardly possible to pretend (the US - TASS) itself is not involved, despite any denials by officials in Washington that followed right away," he added.