Russia will not allow West to blow up any more gas pipelines: Lavrov
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Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov warns that Russia's energy policy will be oriented toward more reliable partners in the future.
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In this handout photo released by Russian Foreign Ministry Press Service, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov speaks to the media after the G20 foreign minister's meeting in New Delhi, India, Thursday, March 2, 2023. (AP)
During the International Raisina Dialogue Forum in New Delhi, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that "Russia will not allow Western countries to blow up any more gas pipelines."
He arrived to participate in the G20 ministerial council and hold bilateral talks with Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
During his speech at the Raisina Dialogue forum in New Delhi, Lavrov revealed Moscow's plans to rely on China and India, describing them as dependable partners for its energy policy.
“The war that we are trying to put an end to, and that was initiated against us using the Ukrainian people, of course, it has impacted Russian politics, including its energy policy. In short, what has changed is that we will no longer rely on any partners in the West," Lavrov said.
Read next: US planted explosives that destroyed Nord Stream, claims Seymour Hersh
Regarding how the war in Ukraine influenced Russia’s energy policy, the Russian Foreign Minister said, "Russia's energy policy will henceforth be oriented towards reliable partners, those who can be trusted. India and China, of course, are among them."
The Foreign Minister had early expressed Russia's "shock" over the lack of punishment for those who were behind the Nord Stream attack, reiterated Moscow's insistence on a "fair and swift investigation," while also vowing that Russia would not allow the Nord Stream pipeline investigations to be "swept under the rug."
"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," Russia's top diplomat told Sputnik during a press conference following the meeting of the G20 foreign ministers in New Delhi, India on March 2.
Read next: Chinese MoFA urges Washington for truth about Nord Stream explosions
Last month, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzia said that Western countries on the UN Security Council (UNSC) are not showing a willingness to cooperate with Russia on an impartial investigation into the explosions that targeted the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
"We do not see a desire from our partners to cooperate," Nebenzia said on Tuesday during a UNSC meeting.
Russia submitted a draft resolution to the UN requesting an investigation into the blasts that targeted the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September 2022 in light of the new report presented by Pulitzer Prize-winning American journalist Seymour Hersh over Washington's key role in the attack.
Nebenzia's statements came following a briefing on the matter offered by the Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University, Jeffrey Sachs, who said earlier that the US may be behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines.
