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Russia Calls UN Meeting On Nordstream Sabotage

Russia called a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday on the subject of the Nord Stream pipeline sabotage of last September, the AP said.

The Security Council reviewed Russia's draft resolution on Monday, but said there was opposition to the resolution.

The meeting request comes after asking for a resolution that calls for a UN investigation of the sabotage. Denmark, Germany, and Sweden issued a letter to the Security Council member with its conclusion of the sabotage. According to their investigations, the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines suffered damage "by powerful explosions due to sabotage."

The investigations by the trio are ongoing, and while they have kept Russian authorities apprised of the investigations, no end date for the investigations has been given.

But while the three stated in the letter that they've kept Russia informed about the investigations, Russia repeated this week its call on Sweden to share its findings about the blast.

It was previously thought that the UN Security Council could vote on Russia's resolution asking the UN to investigate the sabotage on Tuesday. But council diplomats speaking to the AP said today that a Tuesday vote was not expected. Russia has accused the United States of being behind the sabotage. Veteran journalist Seymour Hirsh also concluded that the United States was behind it-an insinuation that Washington quickly-and flat out-denied.

Nord Stream 2 was never put into operation after Germany axed the certification process following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia, for its part, shut down Nord Stream 1 indefinitely in early September, claiming an inability to repair gas turbines because of the Western sanctions. 

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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Julianne Geiger

Julianne Geiger is a veteran editor, writer and researcher for Oilprice.com, and a member of the Creative Professionals Networking Group. More

Comments

  • Allen Ford - 23rd Feb 2023 at 10:17am:
    No end date for the investigations into the Nord Stream (NS) sabotage has been given. There will be no end date because the result of the investigation would have to lead to a declaration of war against the US and Norway by the EU, Germany and Russia. The only response of the US to the Hersh’s detailed report was to call it complete BS. I wonder whether previous US administrations gave the same response after he had revealed US war crimes committed in Vietnam (My Lai) and Iraq (Abu Ghraib).

    The NS sabotage should be an eye opener for the EU, and Germany in particular. It demonstrates the US has no problems to destroy Europe’s and Germany’s vital energy infrastructures for the sake of US interests and to keep Europe on a short leash. The US is profiteering hugely from Europe’s cut off from Russian gas. Europe’s dependency on cheap Russian gas has been exchanged now for 5-fold more expensive LNG from the US. Europe has spent €792 Billion to shield businesses and households from soaring gas prices, with Germany alone having spent nearly €270bn since the start of the energy crisis in late 2021.

    The NS sabotage should also be the final straw for the EU to realize to end their dependency on the US. Under Germany’s economic leadership and France’s Strategic Nuclear Forces, the EU needs to develop and pursue its global interests independent of the US. It will prevent the EU of being drawn into the perpetual conflicts the US has been engaged in to secure their global dominance, including the growing confrontation between the US and China.

    Ukraine joining the EU should be a non-starter for the EU. Further expansion of the EU to the East will only increase the mighty headache the EU already has with some of its Eastern members, including Poland and Hungary. These countries try to have it both ways by regularly demanding generous EU hand-outs while blatantly defying and violating EU law. Moreover, the desire “to have more America in Europe”, as voiced recently by Poland’s president Duda, differs from the long-term interests of core EU nations. Ukraine would also be a massive financial burden for the EU. Last but not least, due to the historical troubled relationship Ukraine and its neighbors has experienced with Russia, EU’s future co-existence with Russia would be problematic. In spite of the atrocities of the war in Ukraine, it is prudent for the EU to avoid similar consequences to those that were promoted by NATO and EU expansion to the East. Ukraine needs to understand that productive collaboration and association among countries within Europe do not require or depend on EU membership, as Switzerland and Norway have proven.
  • Mamdouh Salameh - 21st Feb 2023 at 3:53pm:
    Russia is absolutely right to call for a UN Security Council meeting to discuss the sabotage of the Russian Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines.

    Even if the United States, France and the UK veto any Russian- submitted resolution, at least it will expose the culprit to the world. And the culprit according to Russia is the United States.

    Moreover, American veteran and highly respected journalist Seymour Hersh writing in his blog, in a post titled “How America Took Out the Nord Stream Pipeline,” said that the U.S. planted explosives on the bottom of the Baltic Sea to blow up the pipelines.

    Moreover, it was both puzzling and also very suspicious that Sweden who investigated the sabotage last year refused to invite a Russian representative to the investigations and also to share the findings with Russia. It obvious that Sweden is hiding something.

    The culprit must have a motive, vested interest and strategic objective. These three fit the United States like a hand in glove.

    The motive is that the United States has had a history of opposing Soviet and later Russian oil and gas pipelines to supply Europe with Russian gas and oil since the 1960s.

    The vested interest is that the United States stands to benefit handsomely from selling its LNG to the EU at the expense of Russian piped gas.

    As for the strategic objective, it is well known that the United States has always warned the EU against its energy dependence on Russia and has never hidden its intention of severing the EU’s dependence on Russian oil and gas supplies once and for all.

    Dr Mamdouh G Salameh
    International Oil Economist
    Global Energy Expert
  • steve Clark - 21st Feb 2023 at 2:35pm:
    The explosions were Putin way of telling everyone in Russia that Russian energy going to Europe was ONLY going to go through a Ukraine that territory would be controlled by Russia.

    There was going to be no other options.

    That is why he blew them up as it gave hope to ending the war without a Russian win.
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