Media Leaks Come From Those Who Do Not Want Legal Probe Into Pipeline Sabotage - Moscow

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Leaks to the Western media about the Nord Stream attacks are made by those who do not want to conduct a legal investigation and plan to divert the attention of the audience from the facts, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Tuesday.

Zakharova's remarks came in response to reports from Western media that a "pro-Ukrainian" group had carried out the attacks on the Nord Stream pipeline, appearing to be the latest attempt to redirect attention after earlier findings indicated the incident was linked to US authorities.

"I wonder who allows such leaks, filling the media scene with them? The answer is: those who do not want to conduct an investigation in the legal field and are going to divert the attention of the audience from the facts in every possible way," Zakharova said on Telegram channel.

She stressed that the Western regimes involved in the incident should respond to the official requests of the Russian side and take into consideration the materials of the journalistic investigation of US journalist Seymour Hersh, without replacing them with anonymous bogus stories.

Earlier in the day, US media reported that a pro-Ukrainian group had carried out the Nord Stream attacks. A few hours later, German outlets indicated investigators had identified the vessel from which the Nord Stream sabotage had been committed.

The alleged vessel used in the operation was claimed to be a yacht rented from a Poland-based company, which belonged to a pair of Ukrainians. The entire operations - according to German media - was carried out out by a team of six; however, their nationalities appear to be unclear as they had professionally forged passports, which were allegedly used, in particular, to rent a boat.

At the same time, according to the publication, investigators have not yet found any evidence of who ordered the explosions.

The latest comes after Hersh published the findings of his investigation into the Nord Stream explosions on February 8, in which, citing a source, he stated explosive devices under the Russian gas pipelines had been planted in June 2022 under the cover of Baltops exercises by US Navy divers with the support of Norwegian experts.

According to Hersh, the decision to conduct the operation was made by US President Joe Biden after nine months of discussions with administration officials involved in national security issues. Later, the Pentagon told RIA Novosti that the United States had nothing to do with the explosions of Russian gas pipelines last year.

A vote by the United Nations Security Council is expected to be held by the end of march, according to recent commentary by Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy. Touching on the latest reports, the diplomat had earlier noted that it proves Russia is right to push for an investigation into the Nord Stream sabotage.