Nord Stream blast must be regarded as a terrorist act: Hungarian FM

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
27 Feb 2023 09:37
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Hungary's Foreign Minister says the UN should provide the platform to investigate the explosions that targeted a major European infrastructure for the first time.

Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto answers journalists' questions during an interview at the Hungarian Embassy in Paris on May 18, 2021. (AFP)

Hungary considers that the Nord Stream gas pipeline blast that took place on September 27, 2022, should be regarded as a terrorist attack as it is the first time a major European sensitive infrastructure is targeted in such a way.

"Well, whatever happened at the Nord Stream pipeline, it is really scandalous. Because this is basically the first time when such a major European critical infrastructure was attacked - by whoever, but it was attacked. And such kind of an attack must be considered as a terrorist attack basically," Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told RIA Novosti in an interview.

American investigative journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh said earlier this month that in June 2022, US 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 described the operation as "very covert", noting that the planning phase of the sabotage operation was “kept pretty separate” from the decision-makers. “In other words, the president only learned [that] ‘we can do it’,” Hersh said then.

Hungary's top diplomat also added that Budapest supports a comprehensive investigation into the explosion and believes that the United Nations should take part in it and offer a framework for the process.

"And we support a comprehensive, deep, structured and detailed investigation of what has happened. Regardless of who is initiating that, we do support all kinds of investigations, which bring the hope that we will come to know, who committed that and why," he said.

"I think in such kind of issue, the United Nations definitely should have a role. Why? Because the United Nations has not been created as an integration for like-minded countries. The United Nations has been created to serve as a platform for countries to talk to each other, who even consider each other as enemies. …I think the UN should give framework for such kind of an investigation. I think UN could be a good platform for such an investigation," he added.

The UN provides a platform where even enemies can engage in discussions, which deems it [UN] more responsible to "play a bigger role" when great security challenges are present, the Foreign Minister said.

"When it comes to this whole challenging security environment, I do believe that UN should play a bigger role here. Because UN is basically kind of last resort, where everybody is being represented, where any kind of discussion can take place, because everybody is here. And under the UN umbrella, even enemies could and should talk to each other. So I do believe that UN should really play its role because currently this is not the case," he further added.