The Biden Regime refused to support calls for an international investigation into the Nord Stream attack in the United Nations Security Council Monday. Russia says it may demand reparations for the destruction of the pipeline, which Russian President Putin says will be solved one day.
Only Russia, China and Brazil voted for an international investigation into the Nord Stream attack at the United Nations Security Council Monday evening. The other 12 nations abstained, including the permanent UNSC members the United States, UK and France, as well as Albania, Gabon, Ghana, Malta, Mozambique, the UAE, Switzerland, Ecuador and Japan. The measure thus did not reach the necessary majority of 9 votes.
“Without an objective and transparent international investigation the truth will not be uncovered as to what happened,” Russian UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said.
“The United States was not involved in any way. Period,” said deputy U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Robert Wood, accusing Russia of trying to “discredit the work of ongoing national investigations and prejudice any conclusions they reach that do not comport to Russia’s predetermined and political narrative.”
Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov Monday raised the possibility that Russia may demand compensation for the Nord Stream pipeline, which Gazprom co-owned with European energy companies.
“If we are talking about, let’s say, sabotage by one or more state actors – and, thus far, the data indicates that such a large-scale act of sabotage and terrorist act on a critically important piece of infrastructure could not have been committed without the involvement of state actors and special state services with all the potential they can deploy – in this case, of course, that would be an entirely justified question,” Peskov said, adding this is so far only a hypothetical discussion. First it is necessary to identify the persons responsible for the attacks, Peskov said.
Peskov accused Western countries of “making every effort to whitewash this topic, to paper it over, so that it disappears from the agenda. But, of course, Russia will continue to do everything possible to prevent this from happening.”
Speaking on Russian TV Saturday, Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed with American journalist Seymour Hersh that the USA is behind in the Nord Stream pipeline explosions. “The American journalist, who has become rather famous now worldwide, carried out such an investigation and as we know, drew a conclusion that blast on the gas pipelines was organized by the US special services. I fully agree with such conclusions,” Putin said.
Putin said the truth about the Nord Stream attack will eventually come out: “I believe that it will be hard to attain this, but someday it will come out what was done and how.”
The truth about the Nord Stream attack will come out, Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: “From what I understand the truth about Nord Stream will come out. I have no doubt, it’s one hundred percent,” Zakharova said, the truth “has already begun to break through”.
Let me begin by reiterating our deep concern regarding the sabotage that took place on the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines in September 2022. The United States categorically refutes Russia’s unfounded allegations leveled against us in relation to this act of sabotage. The United States was not involved in any way. Period.
As we have said previously, the international community cannot tolerate any deliberate actions to damage critical infrastructure.
However, let us be clear on what Russia’s draft resolution was, and what it was not. It was an attempt to discredit the work of ongoing national investigations and prejudice any conclusions they reach that do not comport to Russia’s predetermined and political narrative. It was not an attempt to seek the truth.
The competent national investigations by Sweden, Denmark, and Germany are proceeding in a comprehensive, transparent, and impartial manner. As many Council members have said, they must first be allowed to conclude. That is why we did not support this draft resolution and voted to abstain today.
We must ask why, despite having failed to make its case to the Council, Russia still chose to bring this resolution to a vote. It is difficult to accept Russia’s posturing that it only seeks an impartial, independent investigation.
Let it be clear for the record that the first draft of Russia’s resolution clearly implicated the United States, based on mischaracterizations of statements made by U.S. officials. The first draft criticized the investigations of other UN Member States. Over the course of many rounds of consultations, Russia failed to provide any credible new information to justify a UN investigation at this time.
I repeat: Russia has consistently sought to advance a political agenda based on unfounded accusations and predetermined culpability. Russia’s decision to call for a vote on a resolution that has such little support should make us all question what its true intent is.
UN resources for UN investigations should be preserved for scenarios where states fail or are unable to carry out genuine, impartial investigations. That is not the case today. We cannot allow Russia’s continued spurious allegations to distract this Council or unnecessarily divert the UN’s scarce resources from other pressing matters deserving of this Council’s attention and resources.
If Russia were truly committed to protecting civilian infrastructure, it would demonstrate this through its actions. Russia’s claim to be concerned over the sabotage of critical infrastructure belies the fact that Russia is relentlessly attacking its neighbor. It is striking cities and towns across Ukraine, damaging and destroying residential areas and medical facilities.
Russia’s attacks against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure have left millions displaced, without power, and in need of humanitarian assistance.
Russia’s calls for accountability today ring hollow.
Thank you, Mr. President.
Thank you, Mr. President. My apologies for taking the floor. But typical of the Russian playbook is to always pose a question without really having any intent.
First and foremost, I don’t read Seymour Hersh’s articles. And frankly, I don’t base – the United States doesn’t base its policies or respond simply to charges by an individual journalist.
Let me just say that the charges that have been made by Russians – Russian officials – about U.S.’s supposed culpability for carrying out these attacks are just flat-out wrong. Plain and simple.
I would just say to my Russian colleague, that instead of playing politics with such an important issue like this that it deal with the question of critical infrastructure and responsibility.
And again, I point to the fact that Russia has no credibility when it comes to this issue of protecting critical infrastructure. Just look at what it’s doing to Ukraine.
So, I would just say to my Russian colleague, instead of asking questions about the United States and its views toward critical infrastructure, it needs to ask itself about what it’s doing in Ukraine and whether that shows responsible behavior with regard to critical infrastructure.
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