New Nord Stream reports part of disinformation campaign: Kremlin
Disinformation campaigns are playing a role in diverting attention from the real Nord Stream attack's perpetrators, according to Kremlin.
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A Russian construction worker speaks on a mobile phone during a ceremony marking the start of Nord Stream pipeline construction in Portovaya Bay some 170 km (106 miles) north-west of St. Petersburg, Russia on April 9, 2010. (AP)
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told Sputnik on Wednesday that media reports about the attacks on Russia's Nord Stream pipelines are part of a coordinated spread of disinformation and an attempt to push attention away from the real perpetrators.
"Obviously, the authors of the terrorist attack want to divert attention. This is obviously a coordinated spread of disinformation in the media," Peskov said, commenting on the Western media reports.
The Kremlin wonders how US officials that media reports cite can assume anything about the attacks without an investigation, according to him. Peskov called for an investigation into the Nord Stream attacks; one where Russia would be a participant in the probe.
"We are still prevented from taking part in the investigation. Only a few days ago, we received relevant notes from Denmark and Sweden. This is not just strange, it has scent of a heinous crime. At a minimum, Nord Stream shareholders and the UN should demand an urgent transparent investigation with the participation of those who can shed light on the matter," the Kremlin spokesperson underscored.
Read next: West may be concealing Nord Stream probe findings: French General
The New York Times earlier cited American officials as saying that new intelligence suggested a "pro-Ukrainian group" had carried out the attacks on the Nord Stream pipelines. A few hours later, a German newspaper reported that the investigators had identified the vessel used to carry out the attack on the pipelines.
Developments came a week after Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told Sputnik that Moscow would do its utmost to make the Nord Stream probe happen.
"You remember how the West reacted to the investigation into Nord Stream published by Seymour Hersh - their nervous reaction. They started saying it's nonsense and that they were not even going to discuss it. I think this makes everything clear. But we will do our best to make this investigation happen, we will not allow them to just sweep it all under the rug," Lavrov stressed.
This comes after Russian Ambassador to the UN Vasily Nebenzia said that Russia's Western partners on the UNSC were not demonstrating the desire to cooperate in an investigation to verify the presented report that provides details proving the US role behind the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines.
Read next: Hersh says will likely reveal 'mechanism' of Nord Stream sabotage act
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Seymour Hersh published an investigative report that revealed the US Navy divers had planted explosives to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines during NATO's Baltops exercises in 2022.
The underwater blasts occurred at three of four strings of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 underwater pipelines, in September 2022, built to carry 110 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to Europe every year.
Germany, Denmark, and Sweden launched different investigations into the incident, while Russia wasn't given access to their probes.
