Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Thursday expressed shock at the lack of accountability surrounding the Nord Stream sabotage, which occurred in an area under the responsibility of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union (EU), according to Sputnik News Agency.

Lavrov addressed the G20 ministerial meeting, calling for a prompt and impartial investigation into the alleged terror attack, involving Russia and other relevant parties.

"We are witnessing the degradation of international economic relations provoked by the West, their transformation into a weapon, including in the energy sector.

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Lavrov was referring to a report by American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, which claimed that the September 2022 bombing of the undersea Nord Stream gas pipelines was carried out by the US in a covert operation.

The decision to damage the pipelines was made following more than nine months of confidential discussions within the intelligence community in Washington, as noted by the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Hersh.

The White House has dismissed the allegations as "utterly false and complete fiction."

Lavrov also criticised the Western countries refusal to include Russia's proposal for an investigation of the Nord Stream blasts in the G20 final declaration, according to Sputnik News Agency.

"They

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Lavrov landed in New Delhi on Tuesday for a two-day meeting of the G20 foreign ministers meeting.

According to the minister, the West insisted on reproducing the same text adopted last year, which mentioned the situation in Ukraine.

"The West insisted on reproducing the text on the situation around Ukraine, which was agreed at the G20 summit last year in Bali, completely ignoring our arguments that a lot of events have happened since then, including the sincere confessions of Mrs.

Lavrov said that "Western colleagues were speechless when they heard about Kiev's discrimination against Russian culture and language in Ukraine on the sidelines of the event. Instead, he said, they prefer to start a conversation with the "Russia invaded Ukraine" argument," as per Sputnik.

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He also said that the final declaration couldn't be agreed upon due to a dispute between G20 members on the Ukraine conflict.

Russia's top diplomat, who arrived in New Delhi earlier this week to take part in the G20 Foreign Ministers' summit, stressed that Russia advocates for energy security and highlights the importance of granting all countries in need access to affordable energy resources.

Previously, Russian Ambassador to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzia said that Russia's Western partners on the UN Security Council were not showing any desire to cooperate in an independent investigation to verify a report that presented significant details that the United States was behind the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines.

With inputs from agency