HAMILTON, Canada

The UN called Tuesday for patience and restraint regarding ongoing investigations into the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in 2022, warning against speculation in the absence of verified findings.

"The United Nations does not have any additional details of the events and is not in a position to verify or confirm claims or reports made regarding the incident," Miroslav Jenca, UN assistant secretary-general for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas, told the Security Council.

German authorities recently confirmed the arrest of a Ukrainian national in Italy on Aug. 21 as part of the probe, which also involves Danish and Swedish investigators.

"We urge restraint and patience as we wait for the investigation and any legal proceedings to conclude," Jenca stressed.

He also underscored that "any intentional damage to critical civilian infrastructure is of serious concern. Such incidents should be condemned and investigated."

While not taking a position on responsibility, Jenca noted the environmental consequences, citing a UN Environment Program study that found the incident released up to 485,000 tons of methane, "more than twice as much as previously thought."

"In the current volatile security environment, we also urge not to politicize or speculate about any findings or developments related to ongoing investigation efforts," he said, emphasizing cooperation and dialogue among all parties.

During the Council session, Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s charge d'affaires to the UN, criticized the lack of updates in the briefing.

Emphasizing the international significance of the Nord Stream incident, he stressed that "it was beyond doubt that we needed a meticulous investigation of what happened and the identification of the perpetrators, and to ensure that such crimes would not be repeated.”

Criticizing Denmark, Germany and Sweden for refusing to cooperate with Russia regarding the investigation, Polyanskiy said "they decided to keep the international community out of the loop, on rare occasions, giving the media snippets of information, non-specific information that not only doesn't allow us to form the full picture of what happened but even to understand how the investigations are unfolding and roughly who the suspects are.”

“All of this was done on the pretext of needing to ensure the confidentiality of the investigation," he added.

Before the Council's session, the Russian envoy also addressed reporters and argued that "Russia is being absolutely kept in the dark of this investigation."

"We repeatedly reached out to Germany. We repeatedly reached out to Sweden, to Denmark, when they were conducting their investigations," he said, adding that Russia was only provided with "shallow letters refusing" to cooperate.

The 2022 sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines was an unprecedented attack that caused extensive damage to the infrastructure connecting Russia and Germany beneath the Baltic Sea. The Ukrainian government has repeatedly denied any involvement.

Intelligence reports in March 2023 from the US and Germany suggested that a pro-Ukrainian group was behind the sabotage. According to reports, the team consisted of two divers, two assistants, a captain and a medic. The group allegedly entered Germany using forged travel documents and rented the yacht Andromeda, which investigators believe served as the operational base for the sabotage mission.