Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with members of the national Security Council on Monday that in response to the Ukrainian authorities’ actions, a massive strike involving long-range high-precision weapons had been carried out on Ukraine’s military, energy and communication sites.
According to the head of state, Kiev has long been using terrorist methods, including an attempt to blow up a segment of the TurkStream gas pipeline, strikes on the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant and three terrorist attacks on the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant.
The Interfax news agency cited a report from the Kremlin about a “foiled attack” on a major natural gas pipeline from Russia to Turkey and EU called the TurkStream, according to Reuters.
The Kremlin said several people were arrested Thursday during an attempt to sabotage the pipeline that links Russia to Turkey and Southern Europe. The pipeline has a capacity of 31.5 billion cubic meters per year and was launched in early 2020.
“Certain forces … have already made an attempt on TurkStream. The saboteurs have been caught, and several people have been arrested. They wanted to blow it up. On our territory, on soil,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Peskov’s comments come as Russia plans to transform Turkey into a central hub for Russian NatGas, then re-exporting it through Europe. The spokesman commented about the incident on the sidelines of an international summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.
“It is obvious that the Ukrainian secret services ordered, organized and carried out the terrorist attack aimed at destroying Russia’s critical civilian infrastructure,” Putin said of the Kerch Bridge bombing.
Attacks on critical infrastructure in the European region have increased in recent weeks as it appears these could be spillovers from the war in Ukraine.
Following the sabotage of the Nord Stream, TurkStream remains the only conduit for Russian NatGas to Europe besides the pipelines that pass through Ukraine.
Several saboteurs who plotted to carry out an act of sabotage against the TurkStream gas pipeline have been detained and taken into custody, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.
“They tried to attack the TurkStream, too. The saboteurs were caught, several people were arrested as they sought to blow up our [facility] on our territory,” he said.
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak announced on Wednesday that security measures had been tightened on the TurkStream pipeline following incidents on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines.