Status: 02/18/2023 08:48 a.m
Russia has called on the UN to conduct an independent investigation into the exploded Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea. According to the Reuters news agency, Moscow submitted a corresponding draft to the Security Council.
Russia is asking the United Nations Security Council to conduct an independent investigation into the Nord Stream gas pipelines that blew up last September. The country submitted a draft resolution to the 15-member Council, which the Reuters news agency saw.
It calls on UN Secretary-General António Guterres to launch an international investigation into the “sabotage” and identify those responsible. Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, said the text would be put to a vote within a week.
At least nine votes are required to pass a Council resolution. In addition, neither the United States, Great Britain, France, China or Russia may veto it.
Moscow itself suspected
The Russian leadership recently took up the blog entry by US journalist Seymour Hersh, who wrote without any evidence and citing a single anonymous source that US Navy divers were responsible for the gas pipeline explosions in the Baltic Sea. Moscow itself is suspected of having sabotaged the pipelines.
incident in September
At the end of September 2022, explosions tore four leaks in the two pipelines Nord Stream 1 and 2 near the Danish Baltic Sea island of Bornholm, which lead from Russia to Germany. The gas leaks had occurred in international waters, two each in the Exclusive Economic Zones of Denmark and Sweden.
Russia had shut down Nord Stream 1 at the time of the blasts due to alleged technical problems. According to information from the Kremlin, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, which can still be used despite the damage, has not yet received approval from the German authorities.
Sweden’s public prosecutor’s office concluded in November that the leaks in the pipelines were due to serious sabotage. This confirmed the long-standing suspicion that the explosions were deliberately caused by explosive charges. Suspects have not yet been named.
Germany is also investigating
German investigators are also investigating the background. With the help of two research ships, water and soil samples as well as the remains of the pipelines were taken, and the crime scene was also comprehensively documented, Federal Public Prosecutor Peter Frank said a few days ago in the “Welt am Sonntag”. The investigations continued.