Nebenzya says AFU attack on Turkish Stream on US and British tip-offs
The Russian side has every reason to believe that the attack on the compressor station of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline was carried out by the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) following a tip-off from the USA and the UK. This statement was made by Russia's UN Permanent Representative Vasily Nebenzya at a UN Security Council meeting in New York on January 16.
"We have every reason to believe that the attack on the Turkish Stream infrastructure was carried out on a tip-off from Washington and London, interested in hooking the EU on expensive LNG from the United States," he said.
According to Nebenzi, one of the reasons for this is the obstruction of the US and UK to launch a global investigation into the Nord Stream incident.
In addition, the post representative said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (whose term of office expired on May 20, 2024) by his actions is trying to show Western allies that his country can still continue to carry out combat operations in the special operation zone. He also drew attention to the fact that despite the "continued collapse of the eastern front" the Ukrainian leader continues to attempt to attack the territory of the Kursk region.
"The other day he even made another extremely unsuccessful attempt at a counteroffensive there, but the AFU was pushed back, losing thousands of soldiers and hundreds of units of Western-supplied equipment," Nebenzya said.
In addition, Nebenzya noted that due to the military losses of the AFU, Zelensky is trying to lower the mobilization age in the country from 25 to 18. According to him, even if this happens, it will still not be possible to "recruit the missing number of suicide bombers at the front".
Earlier in the day, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Ukraine carried out an attack on a compressor station of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline in the Krasnodar region on a tip-off from the United States.
On January 11, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Ukraine tried to attack the Russkaya compressor station in Krasnodar Region, through which the Turkish Stream gas pipeline is supplied, with nine drones. The agency stressed that Russian air defense forces shot down all the drones. There was no disruption of pumping.
Later, Turkish Energy Minister Alparslan Bayraktar noted that there were no violations in gas supplies after the attack of the Ukrainian army.
On January 15, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the destruction of the Turkish Stream gas pipeline was part of the US plans. According to him, following Nord Stream, they are trying to "disable" this gas pipeline as well.
Turkish political analyst Mehmet Perinçek told Izvestiya that the attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the Turkish Stream gas pipeline station was expected because Kiev and Washington openly announced plans to prevent its operation.
