Illustration: Liu Rui/GT

More figures in the international community have called for an investigation into the explosions at two Russian underwater pipelines carrying natural gas to Europe, which, according to observers, have significantly reduced Europe's energy dependence on Russia and increased US influence over European countries in the midst of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

Russian media outlet RIA cited the Russian mission to the United Nations (UN) as saying on Wednesday that the country will call a meeting of the UN Security Council on February 22 to discuss the "sabotage" of the Nord Stream gas pipelines. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov emphasized on the day that Moscow did not accept the statement made by spokesperson for the UN Secretary General Stephane Dujarric, claiming that the UN did not have the authority to investigate the Nord Stream incidents.

Russia's call for the investigation came more than four months after the explosions, when a shocking report by US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh released on February 8, accusing the US of being the culprit behind the blasts, once again ignited international public opinion.

Commenting on Russia's call for the investigation, Wang Wenbin, spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said that the Nord Stream pipelines are major transnational infrastructures and the explosions have had a significant negative impact on the global energy market and the global ecological environment, and have also triggered the international community's concern and anxiety over the security of major transnational infrastructure. 

It is necessary to carry out an objective, fair and professional investigation into the explosions and probe the relevant responsibilities, Wang stressed.

The spokesperson noted that just after the explosions took place, US and some other Western media coverage was rife with one-sided speculation about who the perpetrator was. But when the latest detailed investigative report by Hersh came out, those media outlets that always claimed to be free, professional and fair, fell into a collective loss for words.

Russian news agency TASS reported on Wednesday that White House National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson claimed Hersh's account was "utterly false and complete fiction."

"Don't those media really care about the truth of the Nord Stream pipeline explosions? Or is there some other hidden secret? What do they want to know, and what are they trying to hide? I think that truly objective, impartial and professional media will investigate the truth behind the incidents," Wang said.

Yang Jin, an associate research fellow at the Institute of Russian, Eastern European and Central Asian Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Thursday that although there is no hard evidence of who was behind the Nord Stream explosions, it is obvious that the incident serves the interest and wishes of the US.

The blasts have cut off any EU plans for further energy cooperation with Russia and left it free to focus on supporting Ukraine, while in the past, the EU had been very dependent on Russian energy, and some European countries had been very hesitant to take sides in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Yang said. 

The blasts have also brought dramatic economic losses and intensified the energy crisis in European countries and dramatically increased locals' living costs, Yang noted.

The observer believes that the explosions could be bad for Russia and Europe, but very good for the US and NATO, as the US has successfully expanded its influence in the continent and bound more European countries to its chariot more tightly, thus escalating and prolonging the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

With the blast of the Nord Stream pipelines, the only remaining bridge to build common security in Europe was destroyed, which means that Western European countries have to choose to be deeply bound with the US at the crossroads of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Hersh also mentioned in his latest report that "Germany and the rest of Western Europe would become addicted to low-cost natural gas supplied by Russia - while diminishing European reliance on America." This is one of the main reasons Washington decided to blow up the Nord Stream pipelines.