ANKARA, January 14. /TASS/. The United States and the European Union would seem to have a vested interest in the attack on the infrastructure of the TurkStream gas pipeline, Necdet Pamir, Turkey’s leading energy expert, told TASS.
"We must ask ourselves who stands to lose in the event of sabotage? TurkStream consists of two parallel strings of 15.75 bln cubic meters each. One covers Turkey’s gas needs, the other serves [the needs of] the Balkan and Central European countries. The attack seems to have failed to affect gas supplies. However, if they were stopped, the Russian Federation, Turkey, the Balkan and Central European countries, especially Hungary, would have been affected the most. From this viewpoint, the US and the present leaders of the EU, the US’ satellites, are the usual suspects," he said, adding that "there is no evidence of that yet, but similar statements were widely spread following the attack on the Nord Stream."
"Moreover, it may have been a message to Turkey in response to its policy on Syria," the expert noted.
Pamir expressed hope that "relations between the US and Russia will stabilize after [US President-elect Donald] Trump takes office." "I also hope that after the election in Germany more sensible authorities will come to power. And not only in Germany, but across the EU. I expect the Nord Stream pipelines to be commissioned when that happens. Due to this gas prices will fall to a reasonable level, which will lower Turkey’s costs for gas imports," he noted.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said earlier that to disrupt gas supplies to Europe, Kiev sent nine drones to attack the infrastructure of the Russkaya compressor station in the Krasnodar Region, which supplies gas through the TurkStream pipeline. Despite the attack, the station continues to operate and supply gas to the pipeline as usual.