Explanation of vote by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia before UNSC vote on a draft resolution regarding the acts of sabotage at the Nord Stream pipeline
Mr.President,
We convene today to pass a vote on a draft resolution on holding an international investigation under the auspices of the Secretary-General into the acts of sabotage at the Nord Stream pipeline that took place in the Baltic Sea in September 2022. The draft was proposed by the Russian Federation and co-sponsored by China, Belarus, Venezuela, DPRK, Nicaragua, Syria, and Eritrea.
When Security Council met in February on this issue, we announced this initiative because we had profound and rather well-grounded doubts as to the objectiveness and effectiveness of national inquiries underway in some European states. Unfortunately, the latter show no intention to cooperate with interested stakeholders (in particular with my country as one of the most affected sides) in order to find out the whole truth regarding this crime that jeopardized various aspects of the international peace and security. Besides, those countries try to mislead the Council consistently and purposefully by saying that they allegedly had updated Russia on their efforts. Once again, we would like to draw attention to our letters dated 13 March (S/2023/193) and 24 March (S/2023/223) where a copy of the communication between Russian foreign service stations and competent bodies with the German, Danish, and Swedish authorities was attached. What clearly follows from this communication is that authorities of the states in question had given us nothing but just formal replies. Therefore, unless there is an objective and transparent international investigation, we will not be able to find out the truth.
That is why, while acting in an open and constructive spirit, we offer to our colleagues in the Council to adopt a resolution that should task the Secretary-General to submit proposals for the estabishment of an international independent commission to conduct a comprehensive, transparent and impartial investigation into the circumstances of the incident. This appears especially important against the backdrop of new emerging facts and speculations by mass media on this issue that can be characterized by a varying degrees of reliability or absurdity.
At the final stages of consultations on our draft resolution, the only argument that we heard from the colleagues who doubted whether an international investigation was needed was that we first should wait for the results of national investigations. To that, we must say that such inquiries may last forever in the same inefficient and non-transparent manner, while we lose precious time. All this makes us think that the efforts of these investigations may be aimed not at clarifying the circumstances of the sabotage, but at hiding the evidence and “cleaning up” the crime scene. We believe that the Council is accountable to the international community for responding to such attacks. Besides, our initiative in no way restricts national investigations. On the contrary, our draft resolution calls to ensure comprehensive cooperation of Member States with the commission to be established. We hope that this will lead a synergy of all relevant efforts. So colleagues, no reasons to worry here.
Moreover, the recent episode with an unidentified object that was discovered at one of the Nord Stream threads, as well as the decision of the Danish authorities to let Nord Stream AG take part in its inspection further reiterate the need for international procedures. We doubt that such an authorization would have been possible at all, had we not drawn the global attention to the egregious situation with national investigations. If even such minimal transparency can be ensured only given close international focus on the activities of the investigating governments, then there is no doubt whatsoever that global efforts are very much needed.
Mr.President,
During the consultations on the draft, the Russian side acted with maximum responsibility and flexibility and sought to make the draft acceptable for all states. All concerns raised by Council members were taken on board.
We call on the Security Council to support this resolution. Its adoption will send a clear signal that such acts of sabotage against trans-boundary infrastructure are unacceptable and that the perpetrators must be held accountable. We are convinced that this is something that meets the interests of all states and the global community at large.
Thank you.
