On Monday, March 27, the UN Security Council will vote on a draft Russian resolution on the investigation of terrorist attacks on Nord Streams. As stated earlier by the First Deputy Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Dmitry Polyansky, the co-authors of the document were specialists from the PRC, representatives of other countries can join them.

"We are conscientious ... conducted expert work on the text, removed all the controversial moments for constructively minded partners," Polyansky wrote in his Telegram channel.

The diplomat noted that representatives of Western states were "pointedly not involved in this work," arguing that "an international investigation is not required, since they trust the investigations of Denmark, Sweden and Germany."

In this regard, Polyansky recalled that Russia had distributed correspondence with the authorities of Denmark, Sweden and Germany to the UN. From its content it follows that "the allegations that these countries inform us about the progress of their investigations do not correspond to reality," Polyansky said.

According to experts interviewed by RT, Moscow is trying to achieve an objective investigation into the circumstances of the terrorist attack on Nord Streams. This aspiration is shared by China, and in the future it may find the support of friendly and neutral countries, especially large exporters or importers of energy resources.

"Of course, China is interested in what exactly happened on Nord Streams. Beijing, as one of the world's largest buyers of energy resources, including Russian ones, is interested in the security of the gas and oil supply infrastructure, "said Vyacheslav Kulagin, director of the Center for Oil and Gas Research at the HSE Institute for Economics and Regulation of Infrastructure Industries, in an interview with RT.

According to the expert, supporting Russia in the investigation of explosions at Nord Streams, China expects to understand the motives of the aggressor countries, to assess the scale of threats that emanate from them. For this reason, he cooperates with Moscow, including at the UN.

"It is obvious that the Western members of the Security Council (the United States, Great Britain, France. - RT) reject the resolution on the international investigation. Nevertheless, the efforts of Russia and China cannot be called in vain. If Western countries vote against the document, it will become clear to the whole world which states are afraid of launching a normal, unbiased investigation under the auspices of the UN, fear that the public will learn the truth," Kulagin explained.

  • Permanent Representative of Russia to the UN Vassily Nebenzia
  • AP
  • © John Minchillo

In a comment to RT, Vladimir Olenchenko, a senior researcher at the Center for European Studies of the IMEMO RAS, recalled that in February China called on Washington to provide detailed explanations on the information published by American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, winner of the Pulitzer Prize.

"China supports Moscow in seeking to clarify the situation, to show who is not interested in the investigation. The resolution that will appear in the UN Security Council is... a coherent document, where, apparently, a mechanism will be prescribed to clarify all the circumstances of the terrorist attack on the joint venture and prevent possible risks," Olenchenko said.

"Streamlined Response"

Recall that in a recent interview with the TV channel "Russia 24", Russian leader Vladimir Putin agreed with the conclusions of Seymour Hersh that the sabotage on the "Nord Streams" was organized by US special services. Washington still denies responsibility.

In addition, the Russian president said that after the terrorist attack in the exclusive economic zone of Denmark, with the permission of the kingdom's authorities, Gazprom specialists discovered a suspicious object. After studying the data obtained, Russian explosives technicians suggested that an antenna designed to receive a signal about the explosion fell into the field of view.

"Having received this information, we honestly, as expected, talked with the Danish authorities and offered them immediately, immediately, together and with the involvement of international experts, to examine this site, believing that another explosive device could be planted there, which for some reason did not explode," Putin said.

  • Russian President Vladimir Putin on the explosions at Nord Streams

However, according to the head of state, Moscow received a "streamlined response" from Copenhagen, the meaning of which was that Denmark does not need the services of the Russian Federation. After that, Russian diplomacy brought this situation to the UN for discussion.

"And just recently, on Thursday, I think, we received a response from the Danish authorities in the form of diplomatic notes, which say that they examined this subject. They (the Danish authorities. - RT) believe that it is not explosive. I think that they should have more honestly said that it is no longer explosive," Putin said.

The Russian leader noted that Moscow cannot reliably know about the purpose of the suspicious object on the pipeline, since it was not allowed to study it in detail.

With the permission of Copenhagen, Nord Stream 2 AG, a Swiss-registered company, will participate in the lifting of the object found on the Nord Stream gas pipeline. However, the Danish Energy Agency does not report on the timing of this operation.

"Areas of responsibility"

According to experts, the topic of US responsibility is unlikely to leave the agenda. Moreover, it can be continued if the development of an international convention on the protection of underwater pipelines begins - on March 26, Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Konstantin Kosachev made such a proposal.

"From my point of view, the logical legal outcome of what happened (regardless of whether it is possible to achieve an international investigation) should be the development and adoption of an international convention on the protection of underwater pipelines," the senator wrote in his Telegram channel.

  • Consequences of the explosion at Nord Streams
  • Gettyimages.ru
  • © Swedish Coast Guard / Handout/Anadolu Agency

According to Kosachev, the international convention should reflect topical issues of the legal regime of underwater pipelines, establish "zones of responsibility" of states through the territories and maritime spaces of which the pipeline route passes.

"Secondly, to declare damage to pipelines a punishable crime under the convention. Thirdly, to provide norms on the procedure for the creation and functioning of an international investigative commission in the case when such a crime is committed by someone," Kosachev emphasized.

The senator recalled that since the end of the XIX century, the Convention on the Protection of Submarine Telegraph Cables has been in force in the world. According to him, this document is a good illustration of the cooperation of states, "when there is a common understanding and interest in solving the problem together."

As Vyacheslav Kulagin explained, the idea of developing an international convention on the protection of offshore pipelines has a certain meaning, but needs careful "legal study".

"Sabotage on the offshore pipeline is an extraordinary event in itself, there has never been such a thing in world practice. This is a terrorist attack, a crime, a violation of international law. If the convention is adopted, then it should certainly affect coastal infrastructure facilities, such as an LNG plant and port facilities," Kulagin said.

As the expert emphasized, it is extremely important to prescribe the areas of responsibility for the safety of pipelines, which Kosachev is talking about, and the mechanism for compensating for damage to the injured party.

"The incident at Nord Streams can really become a precedent on the basis of which it is possible to develop a convention on the protection of pipelines. We see how Denmark simply ignored a completely abnormal event in its territorial waters, did not provide Russia with access to the scene of the incident, although Russia suffered first of all, and Denmark itself had to ensure the protection of the pipeline section in its waters, "Kulagin said.

Nevertheless, the primary goal of the efforts of Moscow, Beijing and countries friendly to the Russian Federation, the expert believes, should remain an unbiased investigation of the explosions at the joint venture. Only it will put an end to numerous speculations in the Western media about the alleged involvement of the Russian Federation in the terrorist attack or the actions of "some volunteer saboteurs."

  • Cover your tracks through the media: Seymour Hersh reacted to the NYT material about the explosions of The Nord Streams

"Recently, a lot of absolutely ridiculous information on the incident has appeared in the foreign media. It is obvious to any specialist that the terrorist attack on Nord Streams is the result of a special operation involving several countries that owned the project documentation, clearly knew where to put the explosives, had everything necessary for this and pursued specific political and economic goals," Kulagin emphasized.

In turn, Vladimir Olenchenko believes that the preparation of an international convention will support the efforts of Russian and Chinese diplomacy in the field of investigating the incident on Nord Streams.

"The idea of an international convention is viable. Most countries have grounds and motives to support a document that would guarantee the protection of underwater communications. In addition, the development of an international convention, as I believe, will not allow the United States to evade the topic of responsibility for the terrorist attack on Nord Streams with the help of planting in the media, "Olenchenko summed up.