Lavrov promised Russia’s response if the Nord Stream investigation is blocked

Russia will respond to the West if it blocks a comprehensive investigation into the explosion of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Channel One.

“I don’t want to threaten anyone, threaten anyone, and I don’t want to hint at anything, but I just know that this flagrant terrorist attack will not remain uninvestigated, and if an objective, impartial investigation is blocked, which will be transparent … of course, we will think about how to respond to the West to this direct attack,” leads his words TASS.

Russia is interested in an international investigation, Lavrov stressed, recalling that Russia had submitted a resolution to the UN Security Council on the need for an international investigation into sabotage. According to the minister, the leadership of Western countries is “confused” after the publication of the American journalist Seymour Hersh about the involvement of the United States in sabotage. Lavrov called new articles in the Western press about a certain pro-Ukrainian group that carried out the bombing “baby talk.”

The Nord Stream incident occurred on the night of September 26, 2022. Pressure dropped in both pipelines. Two subsequently discovered leaks were in the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Sweden, and two more were in the Danish EEZ. Initially, Germany, Sweden and Denmark agreed to conduct a joint investigation, but this idea was later abandoned. In October 2022, Sweden announced the completion of the investigation, stating “increasing suspicions of gross sabotage”, but those responsible for what happened were not named.

February 8 Hersh published investigation of the Nord Stream incident, in which he accused the United States and Norway of being involved in the bombing. The White House and the European Commission called this information unreliable. The Kremlin announced the unwillingness of the West to transparently investigate the Nord Stream case.

On March 7, The New York Times reported on the emergence of new US intelligence, which refers to involvement some “pro-Ukrainian group” to sabotage the Nord Streams. Sources of the newspaper among American officials specified that Washington had no evidence of involvement in the blowing up of pipelines by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his subordinates. No “Russian trace” was found in the case either. Later that day, the German newspaper Zeit, citing the German investigation statedthat a Ukrainian ship, on which traces of explosives were found, could be involved in the sabotage.

In the Kremlin called publications by a “coordinated stuffing” and questioned the involvement of pro-Ukrainian forces in undermining the Nord Streams. The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, called on the West to respond to Russia’s requests for sabotage, and not to allow leaks in the information field.