Remarks to the Press by First Deputy Permanent Representative Dmitry Polyanskiy following Security Council's consultations regarding the acts of sabotage at Nord Stream pipelines
Dmitry Polyanskiy: Today Russia drew attention of members of the Security Council to the absolutely unsatisfactory situation around the investigation of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 sabotage which happened back in September 2022. Almost exactly one year ago, in March 2023, the Security Council was not able to take action on Russian draft resolution asking the Secretary-General to make a proposal on international investigation of the Nord Stream sabotage. Later, Russia proposed a PRST on the same subject, which was met with the same attitude by some members of the Security Council, who suggested “giving some time to national investigations of Denmark, Sweden and Germany”. Since then, any our attempt to push for Council's actions after that terrorist attack was declined by the United States and its allies. The mentioned national investigations of Denmark, Sweden and Germany were proceeding without any results. There was absolutely no transparency for Russia and they rejected any attempts to established bilateral cooperation with Russia, though Russia is undoubtedly the affected state in this situation. As you may know, quite recently Sweden and Denmark have thrown in the towel. And I just want to remind that the sabotage happened in the Danish territorial waters.
Leaving this crime unpunished breaches their obligations under the International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings of 1997. If we make a comparison to criminal cases, it is like spending a year investigating into a person’s murder to then make a conclusion that the person had really been murdered. Of course this is unsatisfactory. I would say that this is a mockery of international efforts. And we asked our colleagues today how long they will be leading us a merry dance preventing accountability for this act, which everyone (at least formally) condemned. There was no answer. And it is quite clear now that the only aim of the investigations by Denmark, Sweden and undoubtedly Germany as well, is to win time and complicate international efforts to ensure accountability for the Nord Stream sabotage acts. If we do not ensure accountability, we are on a very slippery slope, admitting that destruction of infrastructure facilities in international waters can go unpunished. We also act on the premise that members of the Security Council will work in good faith and are interested in bringing to justice those who blew up Nord Stream.
Therefore, we reserve the right to renew the efforts to bring about an international investigation of Nord Stream sabotage and to come forward with relevant proposals. I thank you.
Q: A quick question about some remarks that you made earlier. You had said that the US and the UK are trying to “put out this fire with gasoline” in regards to recent events in the Red Sea. I just wanted to know if Russia is in contact with any Houthi officials to help de-escalate the situation there and if so, if you can give us any information, if there are any positive developments in order to help de-escalate.
A: If you listened attentively, I also said in my statement that we are in contact with all the parties and we try to do our best to prevent escalation. Instead of putting out the fire with gasoline.
Q: Is there any effort underway or possible to repair the [Nord Stream] pipeline?
Having listened to your speech in the Security Council on Yemen, there are reports in the Russian press that the Houthis now have hypersonic missiles. Is that correct? Do you have any firsthand information about it?
A: Starting with your second question, as far as I know, it's not from Russian press. It appeared in Arabic press today, and I don't have any further information to this. As for repairing the Nord Stream, I would remind you that one of the lines is still in act. So theoretically, it can be used for gas deliveries to Europe, provided the countries wanted it. But I have no information about repairing it so far. Again, we need to understand who did it and how. And I assume that if repair works started now, this would compromise the efforts for investigation. But I'm not a specialist, so I might be mistaken.
Q: You spoke about accountability for the sabotage of Nord Stream. What ideally would Russia like to see in terms of accountability regarding this?
And second question is on the Red Sea that you mentioned in your statements to the Council earlier. I just wanted to follow up on more of the US and UK. The Western response to the Houthi actions clearly has not stopped the Houthis. Would this indicate that the US and UK have failed in their mission in that regard?
A: From the outset, we warned that such action and such a decision was a breach of international law. And of course, we do not support such actions. We do not support the gunboat diplomacy. As I said, this is the choice of the United States and United Kingdom, and we are absolutely sure that this will bring about no pacification of situation, but only make things absolutely worse. We will see, but I think that so far the worst predictions about what's happening in the Red Sea are coming true. As for the first question, well, accountability means accountability. First of all we need to understand who did this. These persons should be identified and prosecuted. I think that's very easy. The least I can say is that the result of the investigation that the pipeline was blown up will not satisfy us. This is too obvious. This is childish.
Q: During closed meeting on Nord Stream pipelines did you raise the issue about complicity of US special forces in the terrorist attack?
A: Actually, we do not comment on closed meetings. This is our tradition. But if you are asking whether we accuse our American colleagues, I don't think we need to accuse them. I mentioned during my speech today in the closed consultations that the only ones who do or did accuse the United States of sabotage of Nord Stream are Mr. Biden, Ms. Nuland and Mr. Sikorski. They are not Russian citizens, so I don't know. It's up to them to make such statements.
Q: Earlier today US Ambassador at this stakeout announced that they introduced a draft resolution on AI. Do you have any comment on the US resolution on AI? Do you support it?
A: No, I need to check AI to answer your question. Thank you.
