Russia regrets that the UN Security Council did not support a resolution calling for international investigation into explosions last September that ruptured the Nord Stream gas pipelines, the Kremlin said on Tuesday. Asked what steps Moscow plans to take further, spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated to “do everything in our power” to hold an international investigation. “We believe that everyone should be interested in an objective investigation involving all interested parties, all those who can shed light on the customers and perpetrators of this terrorist act,” he told a press briefing in Moscow. “We consider this extremely important, we regret that the initiative did not pass, but, of course, the Russian side will continue to go to prevent this topic from being hushed up.” The UN Security Council on Monday did not support the Russian-Chinese resolution, which called on UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to create an international independent commission “to conduct a comprehensive, transparent and impartial investigation of all aspects of the act of sabotage on the Nord Stream and Nord Stream-2 gas pipelines, including to identify the perpetrators, sponsors, organizers of the sabotage and their accomplices.” Russia, China and Brazil voted in favor of the draft resolution, while the remaining 12 council members abstained. At least nine votes in favor are needed to pass a draft resolution in the 15-member council. The Nord Stream pipelines, which carried Russian natural gas to northern Germany via the Baltic Sea, were ruptured in a series of blasts on Sept. 26 last year, causing leaks in what officials from countries in the region called “likely sabotage.” Russia accuses the US of having direct involvement in the explosions, which severely damaged the pipelines. Commenting on Germany’s plans to raise military help to Ukraine from pound 3 billion to over pound 15 billion, Peskov said: “Germany is constantly increasing the level of its involvement in the Ukrainian conflict.” He said such actions “do not bode anything well” for Russian-German relations, which already “leave much to be desired.”
Source: Anadolu Agency