Justice For NordStream Attack? Highly Unlikely

The chances of finding and bringing the Nord Stream attack perpetrators to justice are negligible, according to Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev, who added that Russia would nevertheless continue to work towards holding them accountable.

"Of course, we will continue to employ all available legal tools to hold those responsible to account, but the chances of doing this in international judicial institutions are negligible," Medvedev said at the International Legal Forum today. At the same time, Medvedev blasted Europe for its lack of progress in the investigation.

"The European countries, as if by design, have forgotten about their obligations under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the Convention for the Suppression of Terrorist Bombings," Medvedev charged.

In March, Russia said it expected to mothball the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines that were damaged in an act of sabotage last fall, because there were no plans to use or repair them anytime soon due to its sour relations with the West. Originally, Germany's Uniper had said the pipeline could be repaired in a year, although it is unclear whether Germany is even interested in purchasing Russian gas at this point.

The Nord Stream pipelines were sabotaged in late September in still unexplained circumstances. Nord Stream 1 was carrying gas from Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea, while Nord Stream 2 was never put into operation after Germany axed the certification process following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia, for its part, shut down Nord Stream 1 indefinitely in early September, claiming an inability to repair gas turbines because of the Western sanctions. 

Russia has called for an international investigation into the Nord Stream sabotage after a U.S. investigative journalist wrote in February that the United States had planted explosives on the bottom of the Baltic Sea to blow up the pipelines.

By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com

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