UN Security Council Meeting on Nord Stream Pipeline Sabotage Is a Battleground

Feb. 22, 2023, 2022 (EIRNS)—Yesterday’s session at the UN Security Council convened to discuss Russia’s draft resolution calling for an independent, impartial investigation of the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines became a battleground between truth seekers—exemplified by the testimony of Ray McGovern, Jeffrey Sachs, and Russian, Chinese and other diplomats—and enraged teeth-gnashers like the U.S. Political Minister Counselor, John Kelley.

As TASS reported, UN Undersecretary General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo insisted at the outset that there was no way for the UN to verify the claims made in the Hersh article about the sabotage. “I reiterate that the United Nations is not in a position to verify or confirm any of the claims relating to these incidents and that we await the findings of ongoing national investigations,” she said. “Given the sensitivity and speculation regarding this issue, we urge all concerned to show restraint and avoid any speculation.”

First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia’s UN mission Dmitry Polyanskiy told reporters outside the meeting that Germany, Denmark and Sweden have never notified Russia about their investigation, a point which Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia made very forcefully in his remarks to the Council.

Polyanskiy reported that these three governments have sent a letter to the United Nations, saying that they have not yet completed an investigation into the blasts that damaged the pipelines and “are claiming that they are informing Russia about it,” but that is not true, he said. The letter stated that the investigations “have not yet been concluded. At this point, it is not possible to say when they will be concluded. The authorities of Denmark, Germany and Sweden have been in dialogue regarding the investigation of the gas leaks, and the dialogue will continue to the relevant extent.” Germany is the terminus of the submarine pipelines from Russia, and the explosions involved the Baltic Sea territorial waters of Denmark and Sweden.

The U.S. Mission’s Political Minister Counselor John Kelley took the cake for deceit, arrogance and obfuscation, however, beginning by questioning whether Sachs and McGovern had the “relevant knowledge to speak as an expert briefer on the topic at hand.” Otherwise, he argued that Russia is engaged in a “blatant attempt to distract” from the fact that the one year anniversary is approaching of its “invasion” of Ukraine, “as the world unites this week to call for a just and secure peace in Ukraine, consistent with the UN Charter.”

Russia, he said, “desperately wants to change the subject.” He then went on to complain that Russia was amplifying “conspiracy theories from the internet ... abusing its position as a permanent member of the Security Council by using this meeting as a platform for disinformation and conspiracy theories ... [and] is deliberately wasting this Council’s time.”

As for any U.S. role in the Nord Stream sabotage, Kelley proclaimed that “accusations that the United States was involved in this act of sabotage are completely false. The United States was not involved in any way.”

He then pointed to the “competent authorities” in Denmark, Sweden and Germany that are investigating the incident in a “comprehensive, transparent and impartial manner,” failing to mention that these three have refused to inform majority owner Russia of the results of their investigations and continue to keep their work secret.