The Armed Forces of Ukraine’s (AFU) strike on the entry point of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline on 11 January jeopardised the only working route for natural gas flowing from Russia to Europe, putting Turkey at a disadvantage in choosing between its European partners and Moscow.
Ukrainian drones attacked the Russkaya compressor station located in the Russian village of Gai-Kodzor, the Krasnodar region. After the disruption of the Nord Stream pipeline in 2022 and the cessation of Russian gas transit through Ukraine from January 2025, Turkish Stream remains the only pipeline transporting Russian gas to Turkey, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Serbia.
European Commission Spokesperson for Climate Action and Energy, Anna-Kaisa Itkonen, said at a press conference in Brussels that “any attack on energy infrastructure raises concerns,” but the EU was not yet ready to assess the impact of a strike on European energy infrastructure. Meanwhile, Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó stated that “any action that threatens the security of our energy supply should be considered an attack on sovereignty.”
Turkey, for its part, cannot express an unambiguous stance on the incident. On the one hand, the country does not want to end trade relations, including energy contacts, with Russia, and on the other hand, Ankara may stay neutral and refrain from commenting so as not to be drawn into accusations of supporting Russia in its war against Ukraine.
If the attack on Turkish Stream is repeated, the authorities will be forced to react to the situation and turn their backs on some European allies, as the latter would show disregard for Turkey’s interests by not condemning the incident.
US involvement
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, speaking at a press conference on the results of Russian diplomacy in 2024, said the attacks on pipelines supplying Russian gas to Europe showed the United States’ involvement as Washington sought to reinforce its export potential.
I have a very strong conviction: the United States does not need any competitor in any area, starting with energy, where they have no hesitation in giving permission to carry out terrorist activities to destroy the basis of the European Union’s energy well-being, where they [the US] are inciting their Ukrainian clients to disrupt the Turkish Stream following the Nord Stream.
US President Donald Trump later said Washington was ready to guarantee the security of US large-scale energy supplies, including liquefied natural gas (LNG), to Europe to reduce its dependence on Russia, according to Reuters.
I would make sure that you get it. I think the more that you do, the lower the price is going to go, and what I’d like to see is rapid approvals.
From this position, Trump looks like the saviour of Europe. However, if we analyse the chain of events starting with the disruption of Nord Streams, the efforts of the Trump team become nothing but a logical continuation of the work done by the other administration.
THE ARTICLE IS THE AUTHOR’S SPECULATION AND DOES NOT CLAIM TO BE TRUE. ALL INFORMATION IS TAKEN FROM OPEN SOURCES. THE AUTHOR DOES NOT IMPOSE ANY SUBJECTIVE CONCLUSIONS.
Serkan Özdilek for Head-Post.com
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