At the request of Russia, the instance will debate the issue this Friday. Sweden and Russia announced the opening of investigations for possible sabotage.
The United Nations Security Council will meet this Friday, at the request of Russia, to discuss the alleged sabotage of the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, Sweden and France announced this Wednesday (09.28.2022). The meeting will take place at 3:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. GMT), said a deputy of the Russian representative to the United Nations, Dmitri Polianski, on his Telegram account.
“France, as president of the Security Council, has informed us that Russia has requested a meeting on the Nord Stream leaks, and that this meeting is scheduled for Friday,” said Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde. Two of the three escapes occurred in the Danish exclusive economic zone and the other in the Swedish one. Therefore, Sweden and Denmark will be responsible for providing information to the members of the Security Council.
Russia, identified as a suspect after the alleged sabotage of the gas pipelines, counterattacked this Wednesday, asking the president of the United States, Joe Biden, to clarify whether his country could be behind the observed leaks. The White House considered the insinuation “ridiculous”. “We all know that Russia has a long history of spreading disinformation, and it is doing it again,” said a spokeswoman for the US National Security Council.
Russian and Swedish investigations
Moscow announced in parallel that it has opened an investigation into an alleged “act of international terrorism.” Through a statement, the Russian prosecutor’s office pointed out that the “intentional actions” to damage the gas pipelines have caused “considerable economic damage” to the Russian Federation. The gas pipelines were not working, due to the tension surrounding the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but they were full of gas.
For its part, the Swedish Security Police (SAPO) maintained that leaks in gas pipelines “may be a serious crime that could be, at least in part, directed against Swedish interests” and that “it is not excluded that a power alien is involved. Meanwhile, the German government adopted the term “possible sabotage” to refer to what happened in the gas pipelines.
German authorities believe the leaks have rendered the facility useless forever
The Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel reported, citing Berlin government sources. According to ongoing assessments, the damage cannot be quickly repaired and seawater will seep into the pipes, causing irreversible corrosion.