In statements today to the State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian Federal Assembly, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reported that his government has contacted the United Nations and is making plans to hold a special Security Council session on Feb. 22 for the purpose of launching an investigation into the Sept. 26, 2022 explosion of the Nord Stream gas pipelines, TASS reported this afternoon. Lavrov referred to an earlier investigation begun by Russia’s Prosecutor General, following the sabotage, and then the Feb. 8, 2023 article by veteran investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who provided details on the role of the Biden administration, U.S. military and intelligence services in coordination with Norway, in blowing up the pipelines under cover of the BALTOPS military exercises.
Lavrov also reported that Russia rejects the statement by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres’s spokesperson Stephane Dujarric claiming that the UN doesn’t have the authority to conduct such an investigation. He recalled a time when Guterres created an investigative team on his own authority after reports surfaced that the Syrian government might have been involved in actions that harmed the population in the Idlib area not under the government’s control.
