Izvestia: Who is delaying the investigation into the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline?

The head of the Russian delegation to the military security and arms control talks in Vienna, Konstantin Gavrilov, stressed that Russia has not yet received from the United States any clarifications regarding the bombings that targeted last year's Nord Stream pipelines, noting that Moscow is no longer waiting for a response from Washington.

According to a report published by the Russian newspaper Izvestia, in early February, journalist Seymour Hersh published an article accusing the United States of being behind the explosions that targeted the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines on September 26, 2022, with the support of Norway under the cover of NATO exercises in the Balkans. Following the publication of this investigation, Russia requested clarification from the United States on the incident.

But the Pentagon has stated that the United States has nothing to do with the Nord Stream bombings. US National Security Council spokeswoman Adrian Watson called Hersh's investigation "a figment of the imagination", while the European Commission called the findings of the investigation merely speculative.

At the end of March, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that he fully agreed with Seymour Hersh's conclusions about the involvement of US intelligence agencies in the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.

Investigation

Kirill Koktekich, a professor of political science at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, said it was clear from the outset that an objective investigation into the incident was impossible because Russian representatives were not involved.

He added that the United States did not intervene in this investigation and is unlikely to be involved in it, as it is already coordinating with Sweden, Denmark and Germany.

The head of the Russian Association for Baltic Studies, Nikolai Mezevich, stated that it would be impossible to conduct an objective investigation before the end of the "special operation" in Ukraine, noting that this incident raised doubts and confusion even among Russia's opponents in NATO circles.

Why the delay?

Denmark, Sweden and Germany initiated investigations immediately after the incident and initially wanted to establish a joint investigative group, but later abandoned this idea, although they did not allow representatives from Russia to participate in the investigation despite repeated requests from the prosecutor's office, the Foreign Ministry and the Russian Federal Security Service.

Russia and China have proposed to the UN Security Council an independent international investigation into the Nord Stream attack, but their proposal was rejected in late March.

In the same period, Sweden stated that it had not found evidence to clarify who was responsible for the sabotage of the pipelines, noting that identifying those responsible for the sabotage would not be easy.

Different narratives

While investigations in Germany, Denmark and Sweden are ongoing, journalists in the region are publishing different accounts of the explosions based on data on ship movements in this area at the end of September.

At the end of April, for example, four Scandinavian media organizations reported that Russian ships capable of underwater operations had been spotted near the site where the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions occurred, sailing through the waters of the North and Baltic Seas with transceivers turned off.

Five days before the incident, the Danish Ministry of Defence announced that a Russian ship had been spotted near the site of the explosion. German magazine T Online reported that the Russian ship SS-5 was spotted in the waters of Bornholm Island, where the explosion later occurred, and may be carrying equipment, particularly a small special operations submarine on the seabed.

But Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that from September 19 to 24, 2022, the Baltic Fleet carried out "practical measures in the Baltic Sea maritime training areas as part of a planned exercise." The exercise was in the central and eastern parts of the maritime area in question, confirming that it was far from Bornholm Island.

Other accusations

The Russian newspaper reported that the New York Times had previously reported that an investigation showed that the Danish warship "Nimvan" headed to the same area where the Russian ships were hours after its disappearance, which means that it also stopped its transmitters.

In the same period, a Swedish Air Force fighter jet flew over the area unusually, followed by a Swedish naval vessel that remained near the site where the Nord Stream 1 pipeline explosion occurred.

Russia's Izvestia added that the New York Times had stressed that it may not be in the interest of the countries conducting the investigation to share their information because "revealing it could have unforeseen consequences."

If the outcome of the investigation indicates that Russia was behind the attack, Moscow "succeeded in sabotaging the strategic backyard infrastructure of Western Europe," requiring a NATO response. If Ukraine is confirmed to be responsible for the attack, it could "spark an internal debate in Europe about supporting their eastern neighbor."

If any of the Western allies are found to be involved in the Nord Stream bombings, it could shake trust among the members of the Western alliance, at a time when everyone is struggling to maintain a united front.