Russia requests UNSC meeting on Nord Stream blasts

Moscow [Russia], July 8 : Russia has requested a meeting of the UN Security Council (UNSC) on July 11 to discuss last September's explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, as per a senior Russian diplomat at the United Nations, Al Jazeera reported.

Moscow has unsuccessfully demanded access to investigations by Sweden and other countries into the blasts which severely damaged the pipelines connecting Russia and Germany under the Baltic Sea, as per CNN.

Russia's deputy UN ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky said: "We requested a new open meeting of the UN Security Council on the Nord Stream blasts for July 11."

He also said that Russia would invite "a couple of interesting impartial speakers" to the meeting.

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) recently created a new centre that will be focused on protecting undersea pipelines and data cables since concerns have been raised that Russia has mapped vital Western underwater infrastructure around Europe. This move by NATO is also followed by the former attack on the Nord Stream gas pipelines, Al Jazeera reported.

The new centre will be located at NATO's naval headquarters in Northwood near London. Moreover, it will be responsible for designing a new surveillance system to monitor parts of the Atlantic and areas in the North Sea, the Baltic Sea, the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea, according to Al Jazeera.

On September 27 last year, Nord Stream AG reported "unprecedented damage" that took place on three lines of Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines. Swedish seismologists registered two explosions that occurred on September 26 near the pipeline route, TASS reported.

The Russian Prosecutor General's Office initiated a criminal case over charges of international terrorism.

On February 8, US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published an article, said, citing sources, that US Navy divers had planted explosive devices under the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines under the cover of the BALTOPS exercise in June 2022, and Norwegians activated the bombs three months later, TASS reported.

According to the journalist, the decision to conduct the operation was made by US President Joe Biden personally, following nine months of discussions with White House security specialists.

White House National Security Council Spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a comment to TASS that Hersh's account was "utterly false and complete fiction."