The United States wants to put the TurkStream gas line out of operation by nudging Ukraine, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. Turkey described the consequences of such a terrorist attack for Europe.
"The US does not tolerate competition in any sphere, including energy. They are recklessly endorsing terrorist activities aimed at undermining the energy stability of the European Union. They are encouraging their Ukrainian proxies to disable TurkStream following the sabotage of Nord Stream,” Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said at a press conference on January 14.
On January 11, the Russian Defense Ministry announced an attempt to conduct a drone attack targeting the Russkaya compressor station in the Krasnodar Territory (Southern Russia). The station is used to supply natural gas via pipeline to the south of Europe. According to the Defense Ministry, the building and equipment of the compressor station were slightly damaged, the problems were fixed and gas supplies continued as usual.
The probability of new attacks on the TurkStream infrastructure is quite high. This is the only Russian gas pipeline to Europe as of today. According to President of the Research Center for Energy Strategies and Policies of Turkey (TESPAM) Oguzhan Akyener, it may take months to repair the Russkaya station in case of a major attack.
In this case, gas prices in the EU will increase by another 25 percent after a 20 percent increase that followed Ukraine's decision to shutting off its gas transportation system.
"If a solution to this situation is not found in the short term, an increase of 50-60 percent is possible depending on seasonal conditions," the Turkish expert told the Milliyet newspaper.
The TurkStream gas pipeline stretches for more than 930 kilometers along the bottom of the Black Sea. There is a possibility of blowing up the pipe in the sea. Russian President Putin earlier said that Russian ships protect the pipelines as they were under constant attacks.
Der Spiegel confirmed Putin's apprehensions. According to the German publication, Valery Zaluzhny, when serving as the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, proposed "expanding the Nord Stream sabotage operations" to the TurkStream.
Despite sanctions and declarations about the need to reduce dependence on Russian energy resources, Russian gas exports to Europe via pipelines in 2024 increased by 13.4 percent and almost reached 33 billion cubic meters, a report from the European Network of Gas Transmission System Operators said. At the same time, supplies via TurkStream turned out to be larger than the volume of transit through Ukraine — 16.7 billion cubic meters (an increase of 22.3 percent) against 16.1 billion cubic meters (+5.4 percent). In 2025, Gazprom is ready to export 25 billion cubic meters to Turkey and 15 billion to Europe via TurkStream. This will almost completely cover the losses of Ukrainian transit.
Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Monday, January 13, that the supposed "attack" on the Turkish Stream pipeline is an encroachment on the sovereign rights of the countries that use it. One may wonder whether the Kyiv regime is going to deal with sanctions at this point.
Moscow is ready to discuss security guarantees for "the country that is now called Ukraine," Lavrov said. In order regulate the crisis, one needs to find common language on larger issues in the Eurasian format, the minister added.