March 27 () –
The UN Security Council has not approved this Monday the Russian initiative backed by China to condemn and investigate the sabotage of September against the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, in the North Sea.
Three countries have voted in favor of the text, twelve have abstained and none have voted against, so the resolution proposal has not garnered the nine supports necessary for its approval, Russian media have highlighted.
The document described these “acts of sabotage” as a “threat to international peace and stability” and called for an “effective, impartial, transparent, thorough and inclusive international investigation” so that all parties involved are “accountable”. For this reason, he urged the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, to create a commission of experts to investigate what happened.
The Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines are owned by the Russian state-owned company Gazprom and link Russia with Germany across the Baltic Sea to supply natural gas to the heart of Europe. In 2021 Russia supplied 45 percent of natural gas to the European Union, but by November 2022 the figure had fallen to 13 percent after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Between September 26 and 29, four pipeline leaks were detected near the Danish island of Bornholm, albeit in international waters. The Danish investigation points to powerful explosions as the cause and Sweden has concluded that it was “obvious sabotage” after finding “explosive residue”.
