UNSC vote on Russian resolution fuels suspicions – Moscow

The UN Security Council on Monday rejected a Russia-backed resolution calling for an international independent investigation into the blasts that severely damaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines last autumn. Russian diplomats suggested that the outcome of the vote was the result of diplomatic pressure exerted by the West on other countries.

The draft resolution, which sought to establish an international independent commission to look into “all aspects of the act of sabotage” of the pipelines that directly linked Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea, as well as identify the attack’s sponsors and organizers, was supported by three countries (Russia, China, and Brazil). No country voted against the document, with 12 abstentions, resulting in the resolution being rejected.

Vassily Nebenzia, Moscow’s Permanent Representative to the UN, remarked that after the vote “the suspicion [about] who stands behind the sabotage at the Nord Stream will but increase.” 

Last month, renowned investigative journalist Seymour Hersh released a bombshell report accusing the US of having orchestrated the attack on the pipelines. While Washington has denied responsibility, last week Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he “fully agrees” with the reporter’s conclusions.

“The more evidence testifying to the involvement of Washington and its NATO allies [in the Nord Stream sabotage] came to surface, the more vocal the Western bloc was getting about alleged inexpediency of an international investigation,” Nebenzia added.

Meanwhile, Russia’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, Dmitry Polyanskiy, suggested in an interview with RIA Novosti that the West had been pressuring other countries over the vote. “I think that all the others were somewhat afraid to support us out in the open.” 

Western countries, he added, “made it absolutely clear that they are not interested in a vote that would support the Russian position.” 

Commenting on the resolution’s rejection, US Ambassador to the UN Robert Wood claimed that the Russia-backed draft “was not an attempt to seek the truth” but rather sought “to discredit the work” of ongoing investigations by Sweden, Denmark, and Germany and “prejudice any conclusions” these countries might reach.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also weighed in, saying that an investigation into the sabotage “will directly harm” the US and its allies, as it threatens to reveal the truth about the incident.