Russia’s communications with EU nations on North Stream sabotage will be published, senior diplomat Dmitry Polyansky has promised
Russia intends to share with the UN Security Council the exchanges it had with Germany, Denmark and Sweden regarding sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, a senior Russian diplomat has revealed. Moscow is trying to push its case for an impartial, UN-backed investigation into the incident.
Dmitry Polyansky, deputy head of the Russian mission to the United Nations, told US political commentator Jackson Hinkle on Thursday that Moscow is not participating in investigations conducted by the three European countries, “not because we don’t want to, but because they keep us at a distance.”
The diplomat claimed that in a nutshell the message from the three nations was: “We do what we do, mind your own business.” The Russian mission will distribute the exchanges among members of the UN Security Council in an effort to initiate a “independent, impartial international investigation with all relevant parties”, Polyansky added.
Moscow wants the UN Security Council to authorize Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to launch an investigation into the attack on the underwater energy links, which were built to pump Russian natural gas directly to Germany. Three of the four pipes were blown up by explosions last September in the territorial waters of Denmark and Sweden. According to Polyansky, Russia intends to put its proposal to a vote at the end of March, although Western powers will inevitably object.
American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh reported last month that the sabotage was a covert US-Norwegian operation intended to prevent Germany from deviating from the US-led sanctions campaign against Russia. Moscow’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, called the revelation “more than a smoking gun.”
The United States and Norway have denied Hersh’s allegations. A series of publications in US and German media suggested this week that a Ukrainian oligarch had sponsored the operation, which was said to have been carried out by a small team of private divers from a chartered yacht. Polyansky argued that the reports were an obvious attempt to distract the public.
The diplomat insisted that the Nord Stream incident was “an extreme act of sabotage” and that the perpetrators must be held accountable. Should that not happen, it would open a dangerous new chapter in international relations where attacks on civilian infrastructure are tolerated, Polyansky argued.
Source: sn.dk