Russia has failed to convince the UN Security Council to call for an independent investigation into the Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions that occurred last September in the Baltic Sea.

Only Russia, China and Brazil supported the Russian draft resolution, while the remaining 12 members of the UN Security Council chose to abstain. For the approval of a resolution, nine positive votes are required, without a veto from a permanent member of the Security Council (USA, Russia, China, France, Britain).

The Russian draft resolution was tabled last month, just days before the one-year anniversary of the start of the war in Ukraine.

“Without an impartial and transparent international investigation, the truth about what happened will not be revealed,” Russia’s UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzia said before the vote.

The Nord Stream gas pipeline explosions occurred in the EEZs of Sweden and Denmark. Last month, authorities in Denmark and Germany announced that national investigations were ongoing and Moscow had been informed. In their joint letter to the UN Security Council, it is underlined that “the powerful explosions were due to sabotage”. The USA and NATO have also characterized them as “acts of sabotage”.

Most of the Security Council members who preferred to abstain from the vote justified their decision on the grounds that investigations at the national level should be completed before any further action by the UN could be considered.

Russia maintains that it has no information about the progress of investigations at the national level. The Kremlin accuses the West of being behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.

“The United States is not involved in any way,” stressed the deputy US ambassador to the UN, Robert Wood, accusing Moscow of “trying to discredit” the ongoing investigations at the national level, expressing reservations in case they end up