The Kremlin accused Ukraine on Monday of conducting “energy terrorism” and posing a danger to Europe’s energy security, after an attempted drone attack on part of a major gas pipeline that carries Russian supplies to Turkey.
The allegation – which Kyiv has not commented on – comes amid an escalating energy row between the two countries, almost three years after Russia launched its full-scale military offensive.
Kyiv halted the transit of Russian gas to third countries via Ukraine on January 1 – ending decades of energy cooperation that had brought billions of dollars to both countries – in a bid to cut off revenue for Moscow’s army.
The United States last week rolled out fresh sanctions on Russia’s oil sector in another blow to Moscow’s vital hydrocarbon industry.
The Russian defence ministry said on Monday that Ukraine had fired nine attack drones on Saturday at a gas compressor station in the village of Gai-Kodzor, near Russia’s southern coast on the Black Sea.