The United States and its allies hope the issue will “fade into the sand,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed
The West is against a transparent investigation into the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines, Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday. Earlier this week, Moscow’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, claimed that evidence of Washington’s involvement amounted to “more than a smoking gun.”
Peskov claimed that “the need for a thorough and open investigation” contrasted with the goals of Western countries that prefer to let the mystery remain unsolved.
โWe see a brick wall of reluctance from the collective West [for a transparent investigation]. On the contrary, we see their desire to avoid the issue and gradually let it fade into the sand.” he added.
Peskov insisted that the incident should be classified as “a terrorist attack against energy infrastructure, critically important for the European continent.” According to the Kremlin spokesman, these suspicions were supported “some surprisingly quite detailed investigations into who was behind the sabotage.”
Nord Stream consisted of two 1,200 km long natural gas pipelines that stretched along the bottom of the Baltic Sea between Russia and Germany. On September 26, 2022, the pipelines were rocked by a series of underwater explosions. The incident occurred in international waters and shut down the supply of natural gas to Germany.
The blasts occurred amid wide-ranging discussions about limiting gas shipments from Russia to Europe in response to the conflict in Ukraine.
Earlier this month, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh claimed the sabotage was one “secret naval operation” planned and implemented by the United States with assistance from Norway. The reporter cited an anonymous source “with direct knowledge of operational planning.”
The United States denied those claims, and White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson called them out “totally false and complete fiction.”
Denmark, Germany and Sweden are currently investigating the incident. Peskov called Russia’s exclusion from their ongoing investigation harmful to “to establish the truth and establish responsibility.” On Tuesday, the Russian and Chinese ambassadors to the UN demanded a transparent international investigation into the matter.