Russian gas corporation Gazprom said on March 11 that in the past 2 weeks it has repelled 12 attacks targeting energy facilities related to gas supply through the two gas pipelines TurkStream and Blue Stream, connecting Russia and Turkey.
Russkaya gas station in southern Russia attacked from the air on March 11. The day before, 2 gas stations Beregovaya and Kazachya also became targets of attack.
These are key energy infrastructure facilities, ensuring reliability for gas exports through the two pipelines TurkStream and Blue Stream. All attacks have been repelled" - Gazprom stated in a statement.
Also on March 11, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov informed that Moscow had repeatedly informed Ankara about a plot to sabotage gas pipelines in the Black Sea.
“We have repeatedly informed partners in Ankara about Kiev's plan to sabotage and disrupt the infrastructure of the pipelines mentioned above,” Mr. Peskov said.
Mr. Peskov also mentioned Russian President Vladimir Putin's previous statement about the plot to sabotage 2 gas pipelines in the Black Sea, which is of great importance to Europe's energy security.
Speaking at a meeting of the Federal Security Service (FSB) on February 24, President Vladimir Putin warned about the possibility of plots to sabotage the two pipelines TurkStream and Blue Stream in the Black Sea.
In a meeting with Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto at the Kremlin on March 4, Mr. Putin said that Kiev is preparing a plan to sabotage the TurkStream pipeline. After this information, Budapest decided to strengthen the protection of key energy facilities, to prevent the possibility of attacks.
Russia currently supplies gas to Turkey through 2 pipelines in the Black Sea. Blue Stream went into operation in early 2003, with a designed capacity of 16 billion m3 of gas per year, with a length of 1,213km.
TurkStream consists of 2 branches, one serving the Turkish market, and one supplying gas to Southern and Southeast Europe. TurkStream's total capacity is 31.5 billion m3/year and officially went into operation from January 2020.
Currently, TurkStream is the only gas transport route still operating for Russia to supply gas to Europe after transit through Ukraine ends.
This gas pipeline starts from the Russkaya compression station near the Russian city of Anapa.
Escalating tensions over the gas pipeline system in the Black Sea are taking place at a particularly volatile time for the global energy market. Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz in response to US and Israeli attacks on Iranian territory has disrupted the shipping route transporting about 20% of global oil from the Persian Gulf.
These developments increase risks for energy importing countries across Europe and other regions.
The disruption of Russian gas flows to Europe has also increased in recent months.
On January 27, Ukraine stopped supplying energy through the Druzhba oil pipeline to Hungary and Slovakia. Budapest responded by blocking a credit of 90 million euros to Ukraine.
Hungary still receives Russian gas through TurkStream and transits to Slovakia, making the security of the pipeline network a direct concern for Central European energy supplies.
