Russia has plans to damage the Turkish Stream pipeline, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has said.
Russia's attempts to persuade European governments to make concessions, including the lifting of sanctions, with the energy blackmail have been defeated. Demands to pay for gas in rubles, stoppage of gas supply due to allegedly "technical" reasons and other methods did not have any success. Instead, Europe showed strength and began fast diversification and refusal of the blackmailer's energy resources. Therefore, Putin decided to move from blackmail to terrorism — physical damage to the energy infrastructure. His goal is to disrupt supply routes and issue an ultimatum: launch Nord Stream 2 because you have no other choice. Public hints of such a scenario have already been heard from Russian officials," the Foreign Ministry said in a comment.
"The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, publicly warned about Russia's preparations for possible damage to the Ukrainian gas transport infrastructure, in particular under the pretext of provocations on the territory of Russia itself, in order to force Germany to launch Nord Stream 2. We also have information on possible similar plans of Russia regarding the Turkish Stream," it said.
Part of the Kremlin’s strategy are its obsessive accusations of Ukraine and other Western countries of allegedly planning or carrying out actions against the energy infrastructure.
"We urge our partners not to delay sending a clear message to Moscow that will make it abandon its terrorist plans. By remaining firm and united, we will defeat Russian energy terrorism just as its energy blackmailing has been defeated," the Foreign Ministry concluded.