West's Silence On Nord Stream Sabotage Intended To Hide Real Perpetrators - Ambassador

BERLIN (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 09th February, 2023) The West's consolidated position not to comment on the investigation into the Nord Stream sabotage indicates its intention to conceal the "already well-known" perpetrators, Russian Ambassador to Austria Dmitry Lyubinsky said on Wednesday.

Earlier in the day, Pulitzer prize winner, US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published a report saying that US Navy divers planted explosives to destroy the Nord Stream pipelines during NATO Baltops exercises in the summer of 2022. He also claimed that Norway participated in the operation by initiating the explosion.

"The question arises, how can such a consolidated 'wall of silence' in the West be explained, when our (Russian) experts were not allowed to investigate even amid insane allegations of Russian 'self-detonation'?" Lyubinsky said on social media, commenting on Hersh's publication.

The ambassador noted that the the terrorist attack on the key gas pipeline for the European energy supply has long disappeared from the agenda of Western media and politicians.

The West is trying to "hush" the whole situation, even though "the initiators and perpetrators of the sabotage are simply already well-known," Lyubinsky added.

The blasts occurred on September 26 at three of the four strings of Nord Stream 1 and 2 underwater pipelines built to carry a combined 110 billion cubic meters of Russian gas to Europe annually. The incidents halted gas deliveries to Germany ahead of the cold season, prompting a gas price hike and a scramble for alternative sources in the European Union.

Germany, Denmark, and Sweden launched separate investigations into the suspected sabotage, with German media reporting trust issues among the three EU nations. The Russian chief prosecutor's office said it had opened an inquiry into possible international terrorism.