MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin previously spoke about Kiev's attempts to blow up the TurkStream pipeline, so new reports in the media about the sabotage come as no surprise to Russia, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS, commenting on Der Spiegel's report about former top Ukrainian military commander Valery Zaluzhny's alleged plot to blow up the gas pipeline.

"Yes, this is exactly what Putin mentioned earlier," the spokesman said when asked to clarify whether the report described the same plot that the Russian leader had previously reported.

According to the newspaper, Zaluzhny was so enthusiastic about the Nord Stream pipelines sabotage that he "even wanted to expand" the operation. The newspaper's sources said that he even suggested blowing up the natural gas link across the Black Sea as well. As a result, the saboteur group began planning both operations simultaneously, but the attack on the TurkStream didn’t pan out, Der Spiegel wrote, without giving details.

Putin has repeatedly referred directly to Kiev's attempts to blow up the TurkStream pipeline.

"But, thank God, this did not happen, and it is working successfully," the Russian leader told his Turkish counterpart Erdogan in 2022.

This summer, the president noted that Russia had recorded several Ukrainian attempts to attack the TurkStream and Blue Stream pipelines.