Biden administration fully responsible for Nord Stream attack: Russia
The Russian State Duma adopted a draft appeal that calls on the UN to initiate an international investigation into the bombing of the gas pipeline.
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The logo of the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline project is seen at a rolling plant in Chelyabinsk, Russia. (Reuters)
Russia's State Duma announced on Thursday that the federal assembly will submit an appeal to the United Nations requesting an investigation into the bombings that targeted the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September 2022.
"The members of the State Duma of Russia's Federal Assembly appeal to the United Nations Security Council with a proposal to initiate an investigation of this act of international terrorism, to give a legal assessment of this sabotage and to bring to justice the contractors and perpetrators of this crime that jeopardized the security of Eurasia," the draft appeal read.
The proposed document holds the administration of US President Joe Biden fully responsible for the sabotage of the pipelines, which resulted in billions of dollars worth of losses.
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"The administration of Joe Biden, who issued the illegal order, bears full responsibility both for causing multibillion-dollar damage to the owners of the most important energy infrastructure for the Eurasian continent in Russia, Germany, France and the Netherlands and for the long-term detrimental impact of this attack on the economic development of the countries of the region as a whole, as well as for catastrophic damage to the environment."
Russia's Federal Assembly also thanked Seymour Hersh, one of the "widely-acclaimed American writers and investigative journalists," for his courage and devotion to his professional [journalistic] duty.
"The results of an investigation by American journalist Seymour Hersh published on 8 February 2023 testify conclusively to the fact that the United States of America's military and their Norwegian accomplices committed a criminal attack on three branches of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea," the statement added.
Read more: US prefers frozen Germany over one not aiding Ukraine: Seymour Hersh
Renowned US investigative journalist and Pulitzer award winner Seymour Hersh said last week that US Navy divers planted explosives to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines in late 2022.
"Last June, the Navy divers, operating under the cover of a widely publicized mid-summer NATO exercise known as BALTOPS 22, planted the remotely triggered explosives that, three months later, destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines, according to a source with direct knowledge of the operational planning," Hersh wrote in his Substack newsletter.
The White House responded and dismissed the claims as "false and complete fiction."
China calls to bring perpetrators to justice
Earlier today, China's Foreign Minister said an impartial investigation into the sabotage that targeted the Nord Stream gas pipelines must be carried out, adding that those responsible must be brought to justice.
China's top diplomat added that the pipelines are vital transnational infrastructure and the bombing that targeted them raised worldwide concerns about the security of such infrastructure in large countries, as the incident impacted the global energy market.
In the same context, Igor Girenko, a spokesperson to the Russian Embassy in the US, said on Wednesday that Moscow believes the explosions targeting the Nord Stream pipelines were attacks carried out by international terrorists.
