THE Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said the ‘truth’ behind the September explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines would ‘surprise’ many Europeans if it was to be made public.
On September 26th, the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which were built to deliver Russian natural gas directly to Germany, lost pressure abruptly following a series of powerful underwater explosions near a Danish island in the Baltic Sea surrounded by Sweden, Germany and Poland.
Since then, gas delivery from Russia to Germany has stopped.
Denmark, Germany and Sweden are conducting separate investigations into the blasts, with all three countries having barred Russia from participating in their investigations.
A preliminary report released by Danish police stated that ‘powerful explosions’ had caused the rupture of the gas pipeline.
Danish police said inspectors had confirmed that there had been extensive damage to Nord Stream 1 and 2 in the Danish exclusive economic zone.
Parts of the pipeline were either missing or buried in the seabed, the company which was inspecting the damage reported.
Swedish investigators reached a similar conclusion earlier this month, blaming the blasts on ‘gross sabotage’.
Peskov said on Friday that if the ‘truth’ were to be revealed, it would ‘surprise’ many Europeans who suspect Moscow of orchestrating the blasts.
He said Moscow is working ‘intensely’ to be included in an international probe, which Russia has previously said is ‘tailored’ against it.
‘Work is under way through diplomatic channels,’ Peskov said. ‘But so far it is running into a wall of unwillingness to get to the bottom of the truth together, which will surely surprise many in European countries if it was to be made public.’ Peskov gave no further details.
Russia has for weeks complained about not being included in the probe while also voicing Moscow’s concerns about the leakage.
Moscow says it is ‘extremely concerned’ about recent damage sustained by the two Nord Stream gas pipelines linking Russia and Europe in the Baltic Sea.
‘Neither the Germans, nor the Swedes, nor the Danes share information with us,’ Peskov said.
According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, the investigation into the attacks can be considered reliable and objective only if Moscow participated in it.
While some Western countries accuse Russia of being behind the explosions in the pipelines, Moscow has previously accused Western countries. Moscow has particularly pinned the blame for the explosions on the United States.
Moscow says the administration of US President Joe Biden is ‘obliged’ to answer if Washington was behind reported gas leaks on the Nord Stream pipelines that run from Russia to Europe.
The pipelines have been at the centre of geopolitical tensions when the West accused Russia of cutting gas supplies to Europe in suspected retaliation for Western sanctions over Moscow’s military operation in Ukraine.
‘Everybody understands who is behind this and who the beneficiary is,’ Russian President Vladimir Putin stated earlier, explaining that with the gas lines inoperable, ‘one can now force the liquefied natural gas from the US on to European countries on a much larger scale’.
In related news, Peskov announced the creation of a gas hub in Turkey as the two countries design a new route to transfer Russian gas to Europe.
‘The presidents gave instructions to immediately start negotiations and consultations with the relevant departments of the two countries. This initiative, in fact, is in the interests of both Moscow and Ankara, so now all the nuances will be worked out,’ Peskov told the reporters on Friday.
Earlier this month, Putin declared that Russia could redirect gas transit from the damaged Nord Stream pipelines to Turkey. Then he discussed the idea with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during their face-to-face meeting in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana.
On October 14th, Erdogan said the two leaders instructed relevant institutions of the two countries to quickly begin work on the idea of creating an energy hub in Turkey for gas supplies to Europe.
On October 19th, Erdogan said he had reached an agreement with Putin on the gas hub, adding that Europe could start receiving Russian gas through Turkey.
In this regard, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said at a news conference on Friday that in order to weather the global energy crisis and alleviate the pressure from soaring prices, the sanctions against Iran needed to be lifted.
‘If you want the prices to drop, remove the embargoes on the countries that will offer their products to the market.’
In the meantime, soaring energy prices and inflation are compounding a devastating cost-of-living crisis facing many people around the world, including the Europeans who are living in dire economic straits in cities across the continent.
- Russia’s permanent representative to the international organisations in Vienna says the fate of the Vienna talks on reviving the Iran nuclear deal depends entirely on Washington’s seriousness.
Speaking with Russia’s Izvestia newspaper on Friday, Mikhail Ulyanov noted that the ball on the fate of the deal, or the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), is in the US’ court.
‘The completion of the negotiations at this stage, whether successful or unsuccessful, depends almost entirely on the United States and on their readiness to negotiate and seek an acceptable compromise,’ he said.
According to the diplomat, Washington ‘suspended’ the negotiation process due to the upcoming US congressional elections on November 8, 2022.
The last round of talks did not end ‘negatively’, he said, expressing optimism that the negotiations would be completed after the US election in late November.
The Russian diplomat also believes that an agreement between the parties can be reached ‘in a very short time’ as just a few issues have remained and they just need a ‘political will’.
The current crisis over Iran’s nuclear programme was created in May 2018, when former US president Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the 2015 nuclear deal and imposed tough economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic under what he called the ‘maximum pressure’ policy.
The talks to salvage the agreement kicked off in the Austrian capital of Vienna in April last year, months after Joe Biden succeeded Trump, with the intention of examining Washington’s seriousness in rejoining the deal and removing anti-Iran sanctions.
The US special envoy for Iran, Robert Malley, says negotiations on a revival of the 2015 Iran deal remain ‘at a standstill’ and are ‘not even on the agenda’ for now.
Earlier this week, US special envoy for Iran Robert Malley said the negotiations are ‘not even on the agenda’, in a gesture aimed at blaming Iran for the stalled diplomatic process.
Malley claimed that the standstill in the talks came because Iran’s position is ‘inconsistent with a return to the deal’ and that Iran makes ‘demands that have nothing to do with the JCPOA’.
Asked about the prospects of the talks, Malley said, ‘It’s not the focus because there’s no movement … We will see whether this is a government that is interested in reaching that deal. But at this point, the focus is on what’s happening around because the talks are stalled.’
Iran has demanded that the United States provide assurances that it would not leave the JCPOA again before it could reenter the agreement. Washington has refused to give a legally enforceable guarantee, leaving Iranian negotiators suspicious of the Biden administration’s seriousness in the talks.
Last week, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kan’ani reaffirmed the Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman says Tehran is still committed to talks on reviving the 2015 nuclear deal.
‘The Islamic Republic of Iran’s approach is to remain in the course of negotiations so as to reach a lasting and sustainable agreement that would simultaneously guarantee the fundamental interests of the government as well as those of the Iranian nation,’ Kan’ani told reporters.
He said the three EU parties to the deal – France, Britain and Germany – and the United States have linked the talks to the latest riots in Iran, asserting that Tehran will not allow other states to interfere in its domestic affairs.
The spokesman also made clear that Tehran is ready for bilateral interaction with all parties so that the negotiations would come to fruition.
