THE United Nations security council has turned down a Russian request to investigate the blasts on the pipelines that move natural gas from Russia to Europe under the Baltic Sea.

Russia, China and Brazil voted in favour of the Russian request, but other security council members abstained or said that another investigation was unnecessary.

A minimum of nine “yes” votes and no veto by one of the permanent members is needed for a resolution to be adopted.

US deputy ambassador Robert Wood said that there was no need for a UN probe when investigations by Sweden, Denmark and Germany “are proceeding in a comprehensive, transparent and impartial manner.”

Mr Wood accused Russia of attempting  “to discredit the work of ongoing national investigations and prejudice any conclusions they reached that do not comport with Russia’s predetermined and political narrative. It was not an attempt to seek the truth,” he said.

The pipelines, known as Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, are majority-owned by Russia’s state-run energy giant Gazprom.

Nord Stream 1 carried Russian gas to Germany until Moscow cut off supplies at the end of August 2022. Nord Stream 2 never entered service as Germany suspended its certification process shortly before Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 2022. 

The explosions on both occurred on September 26. Their destruction makes it near-impossible for Europe to resume significant imports of Russian energy even if current sanctions, which have driven a Europe-wide energy crisis, were lifted and increases European dependence on imports of fracked shale gas from the United States.

Experts say that the French are now paying around five times more for their electricity. France is now being forced to reopen two nuclear power plants that had been mothballed for safety reasons.

Award-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh published an article on February 8 where he claimed an anonymous source with direct knowledge of the operation told him that US Navy divers planted explosives that destroyed three of the four Nord Stream pipelines.

The claim was denied by the White House.

The New York Times, The Washington Post and German media published stories earlier this month citing US and other officials as saying there was evidence Ukrainians may have been responsible. 

The Ukrainian government has denied involvement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has dismissed as “sheer nonsense” allegations that Ukrainians could have been behind the blasts and pointed the finger at the US.