MOSCOW, March 19. /TASS/. Gazprom has reported an escalation and the repelling of new attacks on its facilities ensuring gas exports via the TurkStream and Blue Stream pipelines to Turkey.
"New attacks on export infrastructure facilities of Gazprom. On March 17-19, there has been an escalation of attacks on critically important infrastructure ensuring gas exports via the TurkStream and Blue Stream pipelines," the company said. The attacks were repelled through joint efforts of the Russian Defense Ministry and mobile response teams, with no damage to the facilities.
In particular, attempts to strike the Russkaya compressor station with 22 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the Kazachya compressor station with three, and the Beregovaya compressor station with one were recorded.
Speaking at a meeting of the Federal Security Service (FSB) board on February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin said there could be attempts to sabotage the TurkStream and Blue Stream pipelines running along the bottom of the Black Sea. Following that, Gazprom recorded a number of attacks on its infrastructure.
Russia supplies gas to Turkey via two pipelines across the Black Sea. Blue Stream was commissioned in early 2003, with a design capacity of 16 bln cubic meters per year and a total length of 1,213 km. The TurkStream export gas pipeline consists of two lines: one intended for supplying gas to Turkish consumers and the other for gas deliveries to countries in Southern and Southeastern Europe. The total capacity of TurkStream is 31.5 bln cubic meters, and it was launched in January 2020.
At present, TurkStream remains the only active route for Russian gas supplies toward Europe following the cessation of transit via Ukraine. The starting point of TurkStream is the Russkaya compressor station, built near Anapa.