I will keep my remarks brief and I will focus on three points.
First, the UK takes the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines extremely seriously and we share the desire of other Council members to understand what happened and who was responsible.
We believe the best way to get those answers is to support the ongoing national investigation being conducted by Germany.
We recognise this is a complex investigation and that it is important it is conducted thoroughly and to the highest standards.
We therefore welcome the update provided to the Council on 9 September by the Permanent Representatives of Sweden, Germany and Denmark, which outlined the German authorities’ commitment to ensuring the investigation is carried out impartially and in line with the rule of law.
Second, as we have said many times before, we do not believe it helpful for the Security Council to try to prejudge the outcome of this ongoing investigation, dictate how the investigation is conducted or seek to politicise the issue.
The Council should focus our efforts on supporting the process rather than engaging in unhelpful speculation or trying to undermine it.
Third, we must point out that while Russia is consistently calling Council meetings on this topic to vocally condemn attacks on critical national infrastructure, it is simultaneously deliberately targeting Ukraine’s energy system and attacking its critical national infrastructure.
These attacks are killing thousands and inflicting a terrible human cost.
We urge Russia to translate its stated concern for the protection of civilian infrastructure into action by immediately ceasing such attacks and ending its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine. Thank you.