The United States is reportedly expressing interest in taking control of the Nord Stream and Nord Stream 2 gas pipelines. This was stated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in an interview with the French broadcaster France TV. According to him, Washington has signaled its intention to claim the infrastructure.

Lavrov also pointed to the events of 2022, when the pipelines were damaged by explosions. He said the attacks were carried out with the involvement of Western intelligence services.

The blasts occurred on September 26, 2022. At the time, authorities in Germany, Denmark and Sweden suggested the incident was likely an act of deliberate sabotage. The operator, Nord Stream AG, described the damage as unprecedented and noted that the timeline for restoring the pipelines remained unclear.

In December 2025, Germany’s Federal Court concluded that Ukraine was highly likely to have been behind the sabotage.

Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzya, stressed that the UN Security Council has yet to deliver any formal assessment of the incident, despite the destruction of what he described as one of Europe’s key energy arteries.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, speaking in Esztergom, stated that Ukraine had blown up the Nord Stream pipeline. He also accused Kiev of halting Russian gas transit to Hungary, imposing an oil blockade, and regularly striking sections of a gas pipeline on Russian territory that supplies fuel to the country from the south.