“We will not allow the situation to be “rolled up””: how Russia calls on the United States to prove non-involvement in the explosions at Nord Stream

Igor Girenko, a spokesman for the Russian embassy in the United States, called the words of State Department spokesman Ned Price about the alleged spread of “lies” by the Russian Federation about the Nord Stream bombings “insinuations” and “unrestrained” reaction.

Girenko's comment was published on the Telegram channel of the Russian embassy.

“It is very significant that the unrestrained reaction of the press secretary (Price. 

) followed a quite reasonable question from journalists about the attitude of the administration (United States of America.

) to the involvement of the UN in the search for those responsible for the unprecedented sabotage in the Baltic Sea.

The interest of correspondents is more than justified in the context of the total disregard by the US authorities - with the tacit consent of the local media - of the resonant investigation of the Pulitzer Prize winner Seymour Hersh," Girenko said in a statement.

Recall that last week this American journalist published an article on the Substack media platform, which claims that the Nord Streams were mined by the decision of the head of the White House Joe Biden under the guise of NATO exercises BALTOPS 22. According to Hersh, citing sources, to organize the blowing up of pipelines the Americans were assisted by the Norwegian Navy, which activated explosive devices.

As the journalist later clarified in an interview with Berliner Zeitung, the head of the White House was allegedly afraid to carry out an explosion in June and postponed it to September 2022.

It was noted that Norway was interested in a successful sabotage on the Nord Stream, because it wanted to increase natural gas supplies to Western Europe and Germany.

Moscow qualifies the pipeline incident "as an act of international terrorism" requiring a comprehensive and independent investigation, Girenko stressed.

“The Russian side will not allow the situation with the undermining of critical energy infrastructure to be “rolled up” ... The United States, claiming to be the source of “ultimate truth”, would do well to move from empty accusations against us to action.

At least try to prove your own non-involvement in the destruction of gas pipelines, ”said the press secretary of the Russian embassy.

In turn, the official representative of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Wang Wenbin, said at a briefing about the need to conduct an objective investigation into the undermining of the Nord Stream, as well as to bring the perpetrators to justice.

In addition, he noted that after the publication of the Hersh investigation about the involvement of the United States and Norway in the terrorist attack, the media in the West "fell into collective aphasia," RIA Novosti writes.

Earlier, a representative of the US State Department, Price, during a briefing, called Russia's statements about the involvement of the United States in the attacks on Nord Stream "a lie".

“What we heard from Moscow, from the Kremlin is nothing but a lie.

Statements that the United States is behind the explosions ... at Nord Stream are pure disinformation.

This is what we consistently strive to convey in the face of these lies that Russian officials are repeating, and if necessary, we will deliver it again in any forum, ”he said.

• US State Department Representative Ned Price

• Gettyimages.ru

• © Celal Gunes/Anadolu Agency

Price also responded if he thought the UN "should play some role in the investigation" of the pipeline incidents.

“These explosions did not take place on American soil.

It would be more expedient if our partners, on whose territory, on the ground, so to speak, where these explosions occurred, will themselves speak out about the relevant investigation mechanisms, ”said the representative of the State Department.

Russian position

Recall that on February 14, deputies submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Federation a draft appeal to the UN with a proposal to "immediately conduct" an international investigation into the undermining of Nord Stream, which appears in the document as "a crime committed by the United States."

The parliamentarians called for a legal assessment of "this monstrous sabotage" and to bring to justice those who ordered and perpetrators of the terrorist attack, which "endangered the security of Eurasia."

The text of the project also notes that the results of the investigation by journalist Seymour Hersh indicate the involvement of the United States and Norway in the attack on gas pipelines.

In particular, the deputies believe that the administration of the head of the White House, Joe Biden, "who gave the illegal order," bears full responsibility both for causing multi-billion dollar damage to the owners of the most important energy infrastructure for the Eurasian continent, including Russia in the first place, "and for the long-term detrimental effect of this attacks on the economic development of the countries of the region as a whole, as well as for catastrophic environmental damage.

The next day, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, at a government hour in the State Duma, said that Moscow had applied to the UN demanding an investigation into the terrorist attack on Nord Stream.

According to him, the Russian side is preparing a special meeting of the UN Security Council.

As Dmitry Polyansky, First Deputy Representative of the Russian Federation to the World Organization, clarified in his Telegram channel, Russia requested this meeting for February 22.

“We have to justify ourselves somehow”

As political scientist Alexander Asafov noted in a conversation with RT, the State Department's reaction to Russia's appeal to the UN because of the explosions at Nord Stream and against the backdrop of new details about the incident can be called "very painful."

“The department is forced to at least somehow justify itself in the absence of compelling arguments about Washington's non-involvement in the terrorist attack.

But since it is not the Russian embassy, ​​not the State Duma, or even the Russian Foreign Ministry, but the Pulitzer Prize winner Hersh, who conducted a detailed investigation and almost daily reports more and more new details, writes about the details of the decision-making, as well as the organization of the Nord Stream bombings, the claims of the State Department regarding Russia, to put it mildly, is not at the right address, ”the expert said.

According to him, the attack on Moscow can be explained by Washington's unwillingness to take the discussion about its own role in the terrorist attack on pipelines to the UN site.

“The fact is that the Hersh investigation reveals vile schemes of interaction between the United States and Norway in planning an international terrorist act against Nord Stream,” the analyst said.

• UN Security Council meeting

• Gettyimages.ru

• © Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket

Asafov also believes that the silence of the Western media about Washington's involvement in pipeline explosions reveals the true essence of the concept of "freedom of speech" in the West.

“Western media basically simply do not cover topics that are inconvenient for the US and NATO.

If they all started writing about the Hersh investigation, extremely unpleasant questions would immediately appear in society - for example, why the White House and a NATO member country are engaged in terrorism at the interstate level, ”Asafov explained.

A similar opinion is shared by the deputy director of the Institute for Strategic Studies and Forecasts of the Peoples' Friendship University of Russia, a member of the Public Chamber of Russia Nikita Danyuk.

He pointed out that the coverage of the situation around the terrorist attacks on the Nord Stream and the role of the Americans in this turned out to be under a "total ban in the West."

“Local media, for the most part, stubbornly remain silent about the Hersh investigation and the position of Russia, since in the event of large-scale coverage of all these aspects, the veils will be torn off the international image of the United States and NATO.

And that house of cards, which was built, among other things, on Washington’s lies regarding the Russian Federation, can collapse very quickly, ”the analyst explained in an interview with RT.

From his point of view, the State Department, intending to hide Washington's involvement in the incidents on gas pipelines, operates on the principle of "the best defense is an attack."

“The United States is trying to accuse Russia of lying about the situation around Nord Stream, which looks extremely implausible, given that after the Hersh investigation, it is already obvious to almost everyone that the Americans are behind the explosions.

From the nervous reaction of the State Department, it is clear that Washington is very worried about Moscow's desire to achieve an international investigation of this sabotage, ”the expert noted.

At the same time, analysts doubt that after Russia's call to the UN, an objective trial should be expected.

“It is already clear that at the level of the UN Security Council, the United States and its allies represented by Great Britain and France will block all attempts by Russia to initiate an investigation, which will be another proof of Washington’s involvement in the terrorist attack,” Asafov said.