Russia has formally requested an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, following the arrest in Italy of a Ukrainian national suspected of coordinating the 2022 explosions. Dmitry Polyanskiy, Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the UN, announced that the emergency session will be held on August 26 at 4:00 p.m. EST (20:00 GMT) under the presidency of Panama, during which Russia intends to highlight what it calls the “protracted and non-transparent” nature of Germany’s investigation into the blasts.
Italian and German authorities say the detained suspect, identified in court documents as Serhii K., was arrested on a European arrest warrant while on holiday and is accused of playing a coordinating role in a team that placed explosive devices on the Baltic-Sea pipelines; an Italian appeals court has since upheld the detention as part of extradition proceedings to Germany.
The 2022 explosions ripped through sections of Nord Stream 1 and 2 in the Baltic Sea, releasing large plumes of methane and permanently crippling the trans-Baltic gas link—an episode that prompted competing investigations and fierce diplomatic rows over responsibility. No state has been formally judged responsible in international fora, and the blasts have remained a source of bitter contention between Moscow and Western capitals.
Moscow says the arrest and fresh evidence merit renewed scrutiny at the Security Council and has asked that Denmark, Germany and Sweden be invited to brief members on the progress of their inquiries; Russian diplomats have criticised what they call the “protracted and non-transparent” handling of investigations and want an international airing of the case.
Past Russian attempts to internationalize the Nord Stream inquiry at the UN have repeatedly run into resistance: a Moscow-backed draft asking for an independent inquiry failed to win broad backing on the Council, and previous open briefings produced sharply divided exchanges rather than agreed action. That history makes it likely this meeting will again expose deep splits among Security Council members rather than produce a joint probe.
Western governments have so far emphasised that criminal investigations led by national prosecutors particularly Germany’s should run their course; German prosecutors say their work is legal and ongoing, while Kyiv has denied any state responsibility for the blasts even as the arrest fuels media and diplomatic scrutiny. The timing of the arrest and Russia’s UNSC move comes amid sensitive diplomacy over the war in Ukraine, raising the risk that the episode will further complicate an already fraught international landscape.
