Russian Envoy: UN Partners Have No Desire to Cooperate on Probe Into Nord Stream Sabotage

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - Russia's Western partners on the UN Security Council are not showing a desire to cooperate in an independent investigation to verify a report that presented significant details that the United States was behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzia said.

"We do not see a desire from our partners to cooperate," Nebenzia said during a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday.

Russia presented a UN Security Council draft resolution requesting the UN Secretary General to conduct an independent international investigation to verify the facts that Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh put forward claiming the United States sabotaged the Nord Stream pipelines, according to a source familiar with the matter.

The Russian envoy's remarks came as renowned American economist Jeffrey Sachs, who was invited by the Russian Mission to the UN to be one of the briefers for the session on Nord Stream pipeline sabotage, urged the body to take action on Hersh's revelations.

"A UN Security Council objective investigation of the Nord Stream terrorists in which all countries contribute what they know, is important for the global confidence in this body," Sachs told the Security Council members.

More than ever, we need a healthy functioning UN Security Council, he added.

The resolution put forth by Russia at the UNSC meeting was subsequently backed by China, whose ambassador underscored the importance of launching an investigation.

UK Mission to UN Awaits Probe by 'Competent Authorities'

The United Kingdom awaits the results of the investigation into the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines' sabotage by the "competent authorities" of Denmark, Sweden and Germany, a representative of the UK mission to the United Nations said.

"The United Kingdom fully supports these technical investigations led by competent national authorities and awaits their findings," the representative said on Tuesday.

With respect to Russia's claims that the United States is behind the blowing up of the Nord Stream pipelines, the UK representative characterized the statement as "lurid accusations."

Earlier Tuesday, Denmark, Sweden and Germany announced that their investigations into the Nord Stream pipelines' sabotage were not yet completed and the countries were not ready to give an exact deadline of when they would end the probes.

In September 2022, underwater blasts occurred at three of the four strings of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 underwater pipelines built to carry a combined 110 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to Europe annually. Germany, Denmark, and Sweden launched separate investigations into the incident.

On February 8, Hersh published a report saying that US Navy divers had planted explosives to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines during NATO Baltops exercises in the summer of 2022. Norway activated the bombs three months later, according to the journalist.

The US government has repeatedly denied its involvement in the sabotaging of the Russian pipelines, while the Russian government has demanded an open investigation.