Beijing Calls For Impartial Nord Stream Blasts Probe, Bringing Responsible to Justice

BEIJING (Sputnik) - It is necessary to conduct an impartial investigation into the Nord Stream explosions and bring those responsible to justice, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Thursday.

The Nord Stream gas pipelines are an important transnational infrastructure, and their bombing has raised international concern regarding the security of transnational infrastructure in large countries, the diplomat said.

"It is imperative to conduct an objective, impartial and professional investigation into this incident with explosions and bring [those responsible] to justice," Wang told reporters.

On September 26, three of the four strings of the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines were damaged by underwater blasts.

Last week, Pulitzer Prize-winning US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a report detailing how US Navy divers had allegedly planted explosives under the pipelines, which Norway activated three months later. US President Joe Biden allegedly decided to sabotage the Nord Stream pipelines after more than nine months of secret discussions with his national security team, the report based on insider information from a source said.

The US government has repeatedly denied involvement in the blowing up of the Russian pipelines, while the Russian government has demanded an open investigation and called an emergency Security Council meeting next week.