Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia<\/p>\n
The destruction of Nord Stream pipelines was an act of international terrorism and needs to be addressed to avoid \u201cchaos\u201d<\/em> on the high seas, Moscow\u2019s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, told the UN Security Council on Tuesday. Russia has accused Germany, Sweden and Denmark of a cover-up to shield the US, and said it would only trust a UN investigation.<\/p>\n The two pipelines carrying Russian natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea were damaged by a series of blasts in September 2022. While Moscow has stopped short of openly accusing the US of carrying out the bombing, journalist Seymour Hersh did just that in an article<\/a> published earlier this month.<\/p>\n Nebenzia referred to Hersh\u2019s article and statements by multiple US officials threatening the pipeline \u2013 from president Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, to \u201cgodmother of the anti-constitutional coup in Ukraine,\u201d<\/em> Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland<\/a>. He also brought up the infamous tweet<\/a> by former Polish foreign minister Radek Sikorski and an alleged text<\/a> by Liz Truss, the UK prime minister at the time \u2013 all suggesting the US and its allies had the motive, as well as means and opportunity, to destroy Nord Stream.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not going to do \u2018highly likely\u2019 here,\u201d<\/em> said Nebenzia, referring to the British accusations against Russia in the Security Council chamber in 2018. The publicly available evidence is \u201cmore than a smoking gun\u201d<\/em> that Hollywood is so fond of, but all Moscow wants is an independent international investigation into the claims in Hersh\u2019s article, the Russian diplomat added.<\/p>\n The attack on Nord Stream involved explosives and qualifies as international terrorism under a convention signed in 1997, Nebenzia noted. Unless its perpetrators are found and brought to justice, the attack may well usher in an epoch when transnational undersea infrastructure becomes a legitimate target, which would cause \u201cchaos and terrible damage to all of humanity,\u201d<\/em> he added.<\/p>\n According to Nebenzia, Russia does not trust the investigations currently conducted by Sweden, Denmark and Germany, as they all refused to share their findings or outright ignored Moscow\u2019s inquiries. \u201cIt is quite clear,\u201d<\/em> he said, that they are \u201ccovering up for their American big brother.\u201d<\/em> If Western countries block Russia\u2019s request for a UN investigation, that will \u201conly shore up our suspicion,\u201d<\/em> he added.<\/p>\n Before Nebenzia addressed the Security Council, former US diplomat Rosemary DiCarlo \u2013 currently the under-secretary-general for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs \u2013 argued the world body was \u201cnot in position to verify or confirm\u201d<\/em> anything, urging everyone to \u201cshow restraint and avoid accusations that could escalate the already heightened tensions in the region.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The Security Council also heard from professor Jeffrey Sachs and retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern, who both testified to Hersh\u2019s bona fides. While the US government rejected<\/a> Hersh\u2019s narrative as false, it \u201cdid not offer any information contradicting Hersh\u2019s account, and did not offer any alternative explanation,\u201d<\/em> said Sachs. He also called Nuland\u2019s comments<\/a> about Nord Stream \u201cnot at all appropriate in the face of international terrorism.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n