Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at a UNSC briefing on the terrorist attack against the Nord Stream gas pipeline
Main statement:
Madam President,
Last week, September 26th, 2024, marked two years since an unprecedented terrorist attack targeting a civilian cross-border pipeline infrastructure — the blasts at the two threads of the Nord Stream pipeline in the international waters of the Baltic Sea and in the exclusive economic zone of Denmark and Sweden.
This event has rightly been in the spotlight of the Security Council, as it poses a direct threat to international peace and security, energy and environmental security in Europe, and navigation in the Baltic Sea. Since then, we have discussed this topic over ten times, both in close and open formats. Upon the initiative of the Russian Federation, there were made three attempts to agree on a Security Council presidential statement on this terrorist attack. We also proposed a draft resolution on this issue, which, however, failed to garner the requisite number of votes.
We believe that today is a good time to look around and get our bearings to understand where we are now, two years after the gas pipeline was blown up.
Let me start with the positive side of the ledger. None of the members of the Security Council or the United Nations as a whole (with the exception, perhaps, of the Kiev regime and its Polish and Baltic accomplices that went nuts over their Russophobia) dispute the fact that the attempt to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines should be condemned and that the perpetrators of this crime should be duly punished. This is important not only in terms of international law, including the 1997 International Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings, but also as part of attempts to prevent similar sabotage targeting international undersea infrastructure in the future. Aside from gas and oil pipelines, I am referring to electrical and communications cables, fiber optic communication lines, and other networks, the stable operation of which determines the prosperity of hundreds of millions of people. If these facilities are jeopardized, a big blow could be dealt to the entire global economy. I hope we all understand this.
However, if we want to keep these facilities out of danger, the Nord Stream terrorist attack must be thoroughly investigated, and those responsible, whether they be States, criminal groups or criminal individuals, must be punished in such a way that no one even thinks of repeating their actions. There is no doubt that they are now watching very carefully how the terrorist attack is being investigated.
And here, we must unfortunately come to the negative side of the ledger. As we all recall, two years ago, the contiguous countries, Germany, Denmark and Sweden, launched their own investigations.
In February 2024, Denmark and Sweden stated that they had completed their national investigations. The only conclusion that was drawn, following 18 months of work, was that the Nord Stream pipelines had indeed been deliberately destroyed using explosive devices. Yet, it appeared not possible to continue criminal proceedings within the Danish and Swedish jurisdictions. In other words, Stockholm and Copenhagen have stated the obvious: the gas pipelines were blown up; and then they just shrugged. The most staggering thing is what our Western colleagues did after that. They refused to call a spade a spade and acknowledge that “the emperor has no clothes”. Instead, on a briefing we convened on April 26th, they all rushed to assert that the investigations conducted by Denmark and Sweden were “effective” and “met the high standards of the rule of law”. Now, they are trying to convince us that we should wait for the completion of the supposedly equally “effective” and “transparent” investigation being conducted by the Federal Republic of Germany. This is despite the fact that Berlin, over the course of two years, has not even bothered to provide the Security Council with any specific or substantive information about the results it has achieved, at least about the interim results.
Moreover, all of our attempts to come to agreement about a collective signal the Council could send to Berlin to make it hurry up and be more transparent, were always blocked by the United States and its allies under the pretext that supposedly we should not exert any pressure on German investigators. This is very disappointing and astonishing because, in our view, the investigation by the German authorities, much like the completed investigations by Denmark and Sweden, is being conducted in a completely non-transparent manner. This is despite the fact that Russia is clearly an affected party and has sent requests for legal assistance to these three States, which were simply ignored.
Colleagues, this whole situation creates very specific and rather dangerous challenges to international peace and security, and UN members are duty-bound to respond to them. The main threat is the dangerous repercussions of impunity, as I have already mentioned. Furthermore, we have not seen due transparency on the part of the German authorities, and this has already resulted in various versions of what happened and speculations about who might be behind this crime. All this may be a by-product of professional curiosity of journalists and their penchant for sensationalism. If it is the case, we must combat these speculations by providing reliable official information, which is something that the German authorities have not done so far. As a result, suspicions are now cropping up regarding the actions (or inaction) not only of the authorities of the United States, Norway, Great Britain and Germany, but also of Poland, which allegedly deliberately helped one of the suspects to escape.
There is, however, another explanation as to why we have lately seen more and more far-fetched versions of what happened: those who ordered and perpetrated the crime are simply trying to “cover their tracks” and point the investigation in the wrong direction. There at least two arguments to prove it.
Firstly, it is the absolute implausibility of the allegations that the bombings were perpetrated by a group of out-of-control Ukrainian amateur divers. Such a scenario could work for a Hollywood blockbuster, but it is hardly fitting for real life. Moreover, the overwhelming majority of experts claim that it would have been impossible to carry out such explosions without the support from the state.
Secondly, what speaks in favor of the “covering their tracks” version is the desire of our western colleagues to shield Berlin’s while it is dragging its feet. The calculation here is clear: as long as the investigation is not completed, they can continue sabotaging the Council's attempts to adopt any UNSC “products”. And when the investigation is over, they won’t have such rationale. Thus, Germany, consciously or not, acts essentially as a “spoiler”, blocking any steps by the international community to establish all the circumstances of the Nord Stream explosions and punish all those who ordered and executed this crime. Such a “role” of our German colleagues is all the more astonishing given that the destruction of the gas pipelines directly affected Germany's economic interests. And even the top German leadership has recently recognized that it was a grave crime. Namely, just last month, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz himself acknowledged that what happened was a terrorist attack that should be properly and comprehensively investigated. Thus, the impotence and servility displayed by Berlin finally thwarted its ambitions and claims for a global role. We hope that Berlin understands this obvious truth.
Anyway, two years later, our suspicions have not been debunked but rather amplified and aggravated due to the fact that a number of American and European officials produced numerous statements, which, in fact, can be regarded as pure-hearted confessions of complicity in exploding Nord Stream. Given the line of behavior chosen by our western colleagues, including at the UN Security Council, we cannot draw any other conclusions. Thus, we have to announce today that we finish the work on yet another draft statement by the President of the Security Council, since the USA and its allies appear to be completely uncooperative. We were trying to reach agreement on the statement for over a month; we held several rounds of consultations and we worked in good faith. However, if our opponents have an objective to prevent any meaningful collective decisions or statements by the UN Security Council, there can be no chance of success.
Colleagues, you may think that through your obstructionism you are discouraging us and weakening our resolve to ensure that those responsible for the Nord Stream explosions are identified and punished. But you are very much mistaken. With each duplicitous maneuver to obstruct the work of the Security Council on the issue, you are making us more determined to establish the truth and make us more and more certain that we are on the right track, while you do have something to hide. It is also increasingly obvious that not until the truth about the Nord Stream terrorist attack is established, will our world be able to return to any kind of constructive cooperation among global players, which is so important for the states of the Global South.
We cannot allow such a situation whereby part of our planet, those who arrogantly believe of itself as part of the “flourishing garden”, are immune from fair and deserved punishment. We want you to understand this very clearly and have no illusions that you will be able to get clean out of the muddy waters of the Baltic.
Thank you for your attention.
Right of reply:
Madam President,
We would like to ask our French colleague, who reproached us for insisting on the use of the term “terrorist attack” with regard to the Nord Stream sabotage: Why are you not levelling similar accusations against the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mr. Olaf Scholz, who on September 14 publicly called what happened an act of terrorism? Especially given how doggedly you are defending the effectiveness and impartiality of the German investigation.
Today, some of our western colleagues attempted to draw parallels between the Nord Stream explosions and Russia’s actions to destroy the infrastructure related to the military capacities of the Kiev regime. But such attempts only attest to either their desire to shift the focus away from the crime (as they are uncomfortable with it) or their total ignorance. If the German investigation is premised on the same dilettante evidence, it is foredoomed. There can be no parallels between the Ukrainian context and the deliberate destruction of international energy infrastructure.
Thank you for your attention.
