Russia is dissatisfied with the progress of the investigation into the explosion of the “Nord Stream“ and believes that it is moving in the wrong direction. This was stated by Dmitry Polyansky, acting permanent representative of the Russian Federation to the UN at a meeting of the UN Security Council convened at Moscow's request on the attack on the pipeline.
“The direction in which everything is moving is to shift the blame from those who are really behind this attack and to present us with some scapegoats who may have been involved in this crime, but could not have committed it themselves. We are dissatisfied with this. We want everyone to understand that the international investigation into this case is very important. This is important not only for Russia, not only for Germany, but also to avoid a repetition of such situations in the future“, he said.
Russia calls on Germany not to try to hide the truth about “Nord Stream“ and to provide all the information it has.
“If it is necessary to maintain confidentiality, such a discussion can be held behind closed doors. The main thing is that the Council has full information and can make decisions based on it. The relevant proposals of the Russian Federation and our like-minded people are still on the table. We call on all colleagues to support them so that the Security Council can fulfill its key task of maintaining international peace and security“, the diplomat continued.
The double standards of Western countries on the issue of the terrorist attack on the “Nord Stream“ pipeline only prove their lack of interest in an objective investigation, said Polyansky.
“They only convince us of the correctness of the line of quickly starting an international investigation“, the diplomat added.
According to him, “an extremely worrying trend“ has manifested itself in the fact that some Western representatives are linking the terrorist attack to the Ukrainian crisis, although we are talking about the destruction of international underwater infrastructure. The permanent representative called this “a short-sighted and dangerous order“, which divides “terrorists essentially into good and bad“, thus undermining international efforts to combat terrorism.
Polyansky commented on the Danish representative's statement that the kingdom “has substantially assisted Russia in investigative matters“. “Through the FSB alone, more than five requests for legal assistance were sent to Denmark, to which we invariably received a response that the provision of this information is a threat to the Danish state. The only content you are talking about was contained in a letter dated June 27, 2023, which stated that Denmark had removed a certain cylindrical object from the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Our request for access to study this object was also ignored. This is the entire content. If by the standards of the Danish side this is a significant assistance to the investigation, then there is nothing surprising in how the Danish investigation ended, as well as in the fact that you claim that discussing a terrorist act, which is the destruction of an international underwater infrastructure facility, is a waste of the Security Council's time. Apparently we have completely different standards in this regard. We are not assembling Lego, but dealing with important issues,“, the diplomat said.
The UN does not consider it possible for its part to comment on the progress of the investigation into the explosion of “Nord Stream“. This was stated by Miroslav Jenča, vice-president of the world organization.
“The UN is not in a position to comment on ongoing investigations or legal proceedings“, he told the Security Council. “The UN does not have any further details on these events, is not in a position to verify or confirm allegations or reports of this incident.“
Jenca also called for “restraint and patience“ until the investigation is complete.
The UN Under-Secretary-General reiterated the world body's position, condemning any cases of deliberate damage to civilian infrastructure and demanding their investigation. “We continue to call on UN Member States to cooperate on these matters and to share information with each other“, he added.
Last week, Italian authorities announced that 49-year-old Ukrainian citizen Sergey K. was detained in an Italian resort on a European arrest warrant issued in Germany. He is suspected of involvement in the explosion of the “Nord Stream“. The German Prosecutor General's Office, where the investigation into this case continues, believes that he “was part of a group of people who placed explosive devices on gas pipelines in the area of the island of Bornholm in September 2022“. There are reports that this person was a regular employee of the Ukrainian special services.
On September 26, 2022, sabotage was carried out on three lines of “Nord Stream“ and the not yet commissioned “Nord Stream 2“, causing serious damage to the gas pipelines, and the Russian Prosecutor General's Office has opened a case for an act of international terrorism.