SAEDNEWS: Western double standards over the terrorist attack on the Nord Stream pipelines prove that there is no genuine interest in an impartial investigation, Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky told the UN Security Council.
"Such double standards only reinforce the conviction that our Western colleagues have absolutely no interest in a thorough and objective investigation into the terrorist attack in the Baltic Sea. They only reassure us that we are right to call for the launch of an international investigation as soon as possible," he stated, TASS reported.
According to Polyansky, an "extremely alarming trend" has emerged, as some Western officials attempt to link the sabotage to the Ukrainian crisis, despite the fact that it involved the destruction of international underwater infrastructure. He called this approach a "short-sighted and dangerous line" that divides "terrorists into good and bad," undermining global counterterrorism efforts.
The Russian diplomat also dismissed assertions by a Danish representative that Denmark had substantially cooperated with Moscow during the probe. "The Russian Federal Security Service alone sent more than five requests for legal assistance to Denmark, and we consistently got the same answer: the provision of this information would be a threat to the Danish state. The only substantive matter was a letter dated June 27, 2023, which stated that Denmark had recovered a cylindrical object from the bottom of the Baltic Sea. Our request for access to examine this object was also ignored. If, by Danish standards, this constitutes substantive assistance to the investigation, then it is not surprising to see how the Danish investigation ended, nor is it surprising that you say that discussing a terrorist attack, which constitutes the destruction of international underwater infrastructure, is a waste of the Security Council's time. My colleague and I have completely different standards in this regard. We are not playing Lego, we are dealing with important issues," Polyansky stated.
The debate unfolded against the backdrop of fresh developments in the case. Last week, Italian police arrested 49-year-old Ukrainian national Sergey Kusnetsov on a European arrest warrant issued by Germany. He is accused of complicity in the 2022 Nord Stream blasts and suspected of belonging to the group that planted explosives near Bornholm. German prosecutors believe he acted as one of the coordinators of the operation. Some reports suggest that Kusnetsov worked for Ukrainian intelligence until 2015.
The sabotage on September 26, 2022, left three of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 pipeline strings severely damaged. Nord Stream 2 had not yet been put into operation. Moscow has consistently maintained that the attack was carried out with US support. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated this position, while the Prosecutor General’s Office in Moscow continues to investigate the incident as an act of international terrorism.
