Moscow To Insist On Receiving Nord Stream Probe Results From Sweden - Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 18th March, 2023) Moscow will continue to demand Denmark answer its questions on the Nord Stream sabotage despite Copenhagen's refusal to let Russia join the investigation, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Saturday, adding that only a truly international investigation that would include Russian specialists can provide credible data on the issue.

On Thursday, Danish news portal Local Denmark reported, citing Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, that Copenhagen would not allow Moscow to take part in the investigation on the Nord Stream explosions. Rasmussen said that the probe conducted by Denmark, Sweden and Germany "can be trusted," claiming these countries respect the rule of law.

"Despite Denmark's refusal to jointly investigate the sabotage, the Russian Foreign Ministry will continue to seek answers from Copenhagen on the issues raised earlier. It would be impossible to sweep the situation under the rug," Zakharova said in a statement.

The spokeswoman also said that the Danish authorities have not yet provided any plausible answers or investigation results.

Zakharova added that only a multilateral and open international investigation involving Russian specialists would be able to provide the public with objective and credible data on the motives, executors and organizers of the sabotage.

The Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines, built to deliver gas under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany, have been out of action since they were hit by explosions last September. Nord Stream's operator, Nord Stream AG, said that the damage was unprecedented and it was impossible to estimate the time repairs might take.

Russia considers the explosions of the two pipelines an act of international terrorism. The official results of the investigation are not out yet, but Pulitzer Prize-winning US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a report in February, which pointed to the US and Norway as the culprits. According to the report, US navy divers planted explosives to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines during NATO Baltops exercises in the summer of 2022, and Norway activated them three months later. The report added that US President Joe Biden had decided to sabotage the Nord Streams after more than nine months of secret discussions with the national security team.

A number of Western media outlets, including Germany's Zeit and Spiegel, reported that a pro-Ukrainian group could have been responsible for blowing up the pipelines.