CHINA called on Monday for an impartial investigation into the explosions that destroyed the Nord Stream pipelines.

The call from China came ahead of today’s first anniversary of the explosions that destroyed the key energy pipelines from Russia to Germany. 

Investigators from Denmark, Sweden and Germany have been looking into the September 26 attack on behalf of the United Nations but have yet to provide a final report on the incident.

Chinese spokesman Wang Wenbin said that it was time for an objective, impartial and professional investigation into the pipeline explosion, “so that the truth can be revealed to the world at an early date.”

Mr Wang said it was “strange” that almost a year after the attack there are still no answers about it.

He said: “The progress of the investigation appears to be very slow and countries that claim to be open and transparent have almost collectively silenced the case.”

Mr Wang said that “determining the truth as soon as possible and making the results of the investigation known are related to the security of the global transnational infrastructure, as well as the rule of law and international justice.”

In March of this year, China supported a resolution presented by Russia for an investigation into the Nord Stream explosions. But the move was not endorsed by the UN security council. 

This followed a report by award-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh in a Substack article on February 8 that accused US Navy divers of planting explosives that blew up the three pipelines. 

The White House dismissed the report as “utterly false and complete fiction.”

The New York Times, the Washington Post and German media published stories in March citing US officials as saying there was evidence that Ukraine may have been responsible for the blasts.

The Ukrainian government has denied any involvement.

Several underwater blasts ruptured three of the four pipelines that comprised Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2.

The blast spewed vast amounts of gas into the Baltic Sea near Bornholm, Denmark.

Russian energy giant Gazprom halted flows through Nord Stream 1, the main conduit for Russian natural gas to Germany, amid disputes over the war in Ukraine a month earlier.

The newly completed Nord Stream 2 twin pipelines never opened as Berlin pulled the plug on the project days before Russian troops entered Ukraine on February 24 2022.

The $10.6 billion (£8.7bn) Nord Stream 2 had long been opposed by Ukraine, the US and eastern European countries which opposed German dependence on Russian energy.