(CNSNews.com) – Russia took its allegations of a U.S. plot to blow up the Nord Stream undersea natural gas pipelines to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, calling for an independent international inquiry, and dismissing European investigations as cover-up attempts designed to protect the United States.
Neither the motive of the crime, nor the perpetrators or the method used were in any doubt, Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia told the council, citing recent claims by investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.
“This is more than just a ‘smoking gun’ that our American detectives love in Hollywood blockbusters,” he said. “With such clues, no lawyer would agree to defend our American colleagues, and the jury verdict would be in no doubt whatsoever.”
A U.S. diplomat flatly denied the allegation – again – and, together with other council members, accused Russia of trying to divert attention away from this week’s anniversary of its attack on Ukraine.
“TheNord Stream pipeline ruptures occurred five months ago,” said John Kelley, political minister counselor at the U.S. mission to the world body. “Now, as we approach the one-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia claims it is urgent the council discuss it this week.”
“Russia desperately wants to change the subject,” he said.
Kelley said this was not the first time Russia has used its council seat “to amplify conspiracy theories from the Internet.”
“We wish it would apply the same urgency shown over the past three days instead to the myriad credible reports of human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law caused by its invading forces,” he said.
“However, let me state clearly and plainly,” Kelley continued. “Accusations that the United States was involved in this act of sabotage are completely false. The United States was not involved at all.”
The Biden administration has dismissed as “complete fiction” Hersh’s claims that the U.S. blew up the Russia-to-Germany Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines under the Baltic Sea last September.
Citing an unnamed “source with direct knowledge of the operational planning,” Hersh wrote that under orders from President Biden, the U.S. and Norwegian navies carried out a mission to plant explosives which were later remotely detonated, damaging the pipelines.
When Moscow last week called for Tuesday’s council meeting, State Department spokesman Ned Price said claims of U.S. responsibility were “nothing but a lie” and “pure disinformation.”
“This is the message that we have conveyed consistently in the face of these lies that have been parroted by Russian officials, and we’ll convey them again if we need to in any forum,” Price said.
Russian officials have expressed frustration, and suspicion, over the limited press coverage the claims have received – sentiments echoed by Chinese diplomats.
Nebenzia said Russia has put forward a draft resolution mandating U.N. secretary-general Antonio Guterres to carry out an independent international investigation, “to verify the facts” put forward by Hersh.
Chinese Ambassador Zhang Jun supported Russia’s call.
“Recently, we have come across a lot of details and relevant information concerning the Nord Stream incident, which is alarming,” he said.
“Faced with such detailed materials and comprehensive evidence, a simple statement of ‘utterly false and complete fiction’ is obviously not enough to answer the many questions and concerns raised around the world.”
‘A desperate desire to distract attention’
Ahead of the meeting, the Danish, Swedish and German governments sent a letter to the council saying their investigations into the “sabotage” were continuing. The blasts occurred in the maritime zones of Denmark and Sweden, while Germany is the destination for the pipelines bringing Russia gas to Europe.
Nebenzia was dismissive.
“Those so-called investigations by Scandinavian states and Germany not only lack transparency, but – and this has become obvious by now – are aimed at covering up the tracks and exculpating the big American brother,” he said.
British delegate Thomas Phipps said it was his government’s view “that the real reason for Russia’s urgency today is a desperate desire to distract attention one year on from the start of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.”
“The U.K. takes the issue of attacks on critical infrastructure very seriously,” he said. “It is why we have so frequently condemned, in this council, Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, on Ukraine’s schools, and on Ukraine’s hospitals.”
“However, we’re not convinced that Russia’s initiative today, or its calls for establishment of a U.N. commission of inquiry, amount to anything more than a distraction from its continuing aggression in Ukraine.”
At the start of the meeting the council was briefed by economist Jeffrey Sachs, who called the explosions “an act of international terrorism” and said it was the council’s responsibility to “take up the question of who might have carried out the act.”
Also briefing was Raymond McGovern, a former CIA analyst and anti-war activist who frequently features in Kremlin media outlets including the Sputnik news agency and RT.
McGovern ended his 15-minute statement by singing lines from a song he said was penned by an associate of Martin Luther King: “We’re going to keep on moving forward, we’re going to keep on loving our enemies …”
After the song, he urged the council to “do what’s necessary, so that no one kills the children anymore.”
U.S. delegate Kelly said in his statement later that he had listened carefully to the briefers.
“We recognize their past history and service,” he said, “though we question their relevant knowledge to speak as an expert briefer on the topic at hand.”
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