Russian Lower House Asks UNSC to Investigate Nord Stream Blast

On Thursday, the Russian Lower House (the Duma) adopted a draft appeal to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), proposing to initiate an investigation into the Nord Stream pipeline explosions.

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"We are appealing to the UNSC with a proposal to initiate a thorough investigation of this clear act of international terrorism," the Duma said, adding that investigation would be able to provide a "full legal assessment" of the sabotage, and ultimately "bring to justice" the perpetrators of this "uncalled-for crime," which has "jeopardized the security of the entire Eurasian continent."

The appeal also points to the results of an investigation, recently conducted by U.S. journalist Seymour Hersh, which testifies that the U.S. military and its Norwegian accomplices committed a criminal attack on three branches of the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea.

"The administration of Joe Biden that issued the illegal order, bears full responsibility both for causing multibillion-dollar damage... and for the long-term detrimental impact of this attack on the economic development of the countries of the region as a whole, as well as for catastrophic damage to the environment," the Duma said.

On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin also spoke out in favor of conducting objective, impartial and professional investigations into the explosions that damaged the Nord Stream pipelines.

His request occurred in response to the call from Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov for international media to look into the details about the explosions, which were disclosed by U.S. journalist Seymour Hersh.

Wang pointed out that the explosions have had a serious negative impact on the global energy market and ecological environment, while also sparking concerns from the international community about the security of major cross-border infrastructure.