Russia Will Not Allow Silencing Issue of Nord Stream Explosions: Embassy in US

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Moscow will not allow silencing the reports suggesting the United States was behind the explosions on Nord Stream gas pipeline given that there is no data on several remaining explosives in the Baltic Sea, the Russian embassy in the US said on Thursday.

"The Russian side will not allow to simply turn the page on blowing up the critical energy infrastructure. Especially given the fact that nothing is known about the several remaining explosives, apparently located on the bottom of the sea," embassy spokesman Igor Girenko said on Telegram.

The diplomat also said that Moscow qualified the incident as "an act of international terrorism" that requires a "comprehensive and independent investigation."

He added that the US should drop the "baseless accusations" against Russia and "get down to business."

Earlier in the day, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said, when asked whether the United Nations should play a role in probing the suspected sabotage, that he would leave it to the US' partners on whose territory the blast occurred to speak to the appropriate investigative mechanisms.

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.