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- Pipe smell: an attempt to undermine the Turkish Stream will be discussed in the Serbian parliament
Pipe smell: an attempt to undermine the Turkish Stream will be discussed in the Serbian parliament
Serbian MPs intend to meet with President Aleksandar Vucic on April 6 and request an emergency meeting of the Assembly due to an attempted sabotage on the Turkish Stream, Dragan Stanojevic, head of the Committee on Diaspora and Serb Issues in the region, told Izvestia. On April 5, the head of Serbia informed Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban about the discovery of explosives and detonators near an important gas pipeline. Budapest has already regarded the threat of sabotage as an attack on its sovereignty. On the same day, Serbian counterintelligence reported that the suspect in the preparation of the terrorist attack was "a migrant who had undergone military training." The country's parliament does not rule out that the Ukrainian special services are involved in the attempted attack. As a result, Serbia and Hungary may sever diplomatic relations with Kiev, experts believe. However, the most likely scenario so far is to strengthen pipeline protection.
A terrorist attack against the gas infrastructure was prevented in Serbia
Deputies of the Serbian parliament plan to meet with the President of the country and request an emergency session of parliament due to attempts of sabotage against the country's gas infrastructure. This was reported to Izvestia by the head of the Serbian Parliament's Committee on Diaspora and Serbs in the region, Dragan Stanojevic.
— I would like to be the initiator. On April 6, I will have a meeting of our parliamentary group with President Vucic. I will see if at this meeting I will voice such a demand or request for an emergency meeting [of parliament], because it threatens Serbia's national security and economy," the politician said.
On April 5, the Serbian president announced the prevention of an attempt to undermine the gas infrastructure, which is of key importance for the energy supply of the country and the region.
- Our units have discovered an explosive of great destructive power and the detonators necessary to activate it. We will inform the Hungarian side about the further progress of the investigation," Alexander Vucic said.
According to him, two backpacks and packages of explosives with detonators were found by the special services near the village of Velebit, a few hundred meters from the gas pipeline. We are talking about the Serbian section of the Turkish Stream, which supplies gas to Hungary and Slovakia. Budapest regards the attempted sabotage as an attack on its sovereignty, since it receives the main volumes of fuel from Russia via this route, said Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto. He added that Hungary, Russia, Serbia and Turkey have agreed to take decisive measures to protect the gas pipeline.
Prime Minister Viktor Orban called an emergency meeting of the country's Defense Council and also spoke by phone with the Serbian leader.
On the same day, the director of the republic's military counterintelligence, Lieutenant Colonel Juro Jovanic, announced at a briefing that a foreigner was suspected of sabotaging the Turkish Stream gas pipeline in Serbia. According to him, the explosives were manufactured in the USA.
"We had information that a man from a group of migrants who had received military training would try to sabotage the gas infrastructure,— RTPC quoted him as saying.
According to Dragan Stanoevich, the sabotage against the gas infrastructure was organized by the Ukrainian special services.
— It is definitely clear to me that only they could have done it, because there are no other interested parties. This is an elementary rule: look for who benefits from it. But it only benefits them to create a problem for Serbia and Hungary. Therefore, I am more than sure that these are either their services or Nazi units," said the head of the committee of the Serbian Parliament.
Stanojevic also drew attention to the fact that there is a powerful intelligence center of the Security Service of Ukraine in Serbia, including through the Ukrainian diaspora. They threaten Serbian politicians and send false reports about the mining of Air Serbia planes flying to Russia.
"I'm afraid that even if those responsible are found and the path leads to Ukraine, there will be huge pressure so that [information] about this is not published and the authorities do not speak about it publicly," the deputy of the Serbian Assembly believes.
Kiev has recently sought to completely stop the supply of Russian energy resources to Europe. In 2022, the Nord Streams were attacked by terrorists, and on January 1, 2025, Ukraine stopped pumping gas from the Russian Federation through its territory. Since the end of January 2026, the Ukrainian authorities have stopped oil supplies via the Druzhba pipeline - Hungary and Slovakia have been demanding the restoration of this route for several months.
Currently, the pipeline "blue fuel" enters Europe only through the Turkish Stream, which Ukraine also regularly tries to attack. So, on April 2, another UAV strike was repelled at the Russian compressor station. Earlier, Russian President Vladimir Putin reported on attempts to undermine the Turkish Stream and Blue Stream gas pipelines in the Black Sea. Apparently, now the Ukrainian special services have tried to damage pipelines already on Serbian territory.
How Belgrade and Budapest will protect gas supplies from Russia
The pipeline is of critical importance for the Balkan States and Eastern Europe as a whole. In 2025, over 7 billion cubic meters of gas came to Hungary from Russia via the Turkish Stream. Slovakia also receives fuel via this route, which intends to increase purchases, bringing them to 100% of its needs by 2027, according to Reuters.
Serbia itself is extremely dependent on the Turkish Stream, whose authorities recently achieved an extension of the contract for another three months. Belgrade, according to Aleksandar Vucic, pays about half of the market price for gas, while consuming about 6 million cubic meters of gas per day. Serbia imports gas from Azerbaijan and LNG through Greek terminals, but these volumes are not enough to compensate for Russian supplies, which account for up to 90% of imports.
Belgrade will have to organize regular patrols of all possible sites where sabotage may occur, Oleg Bondarenko, director of the Progressive Policy Foundation, a political scientist, said in an interview with Izvestia. At the same time, the traces of an unsuccessful terrorist attack lead specifically to Ukraine, he agrees.
— There will be consequences for relations with Ukraine, not only for Serbia, but also for the entire Balkan Peninsula. We can see how, in fact, within an hour, diplomatic relations between Hungary and Ukraine will be severed. At this rate, relations can be severed by Serbia and other countries that look at what is happening differently, the expert believes.
RIAC program manager Milan Lazovic, on the contrary, does not expect drastic steps from Belgrade towards Kiev, including the severance of diplomatic relations. Alexander Vucic will probably continue the policy of balancing, but will send Ukraine a political signal about the inadmissibility of such sabotage, he suggested.
— Security measures will be strengthened. It is possible to initiate an investigation into this incident with the involvement of Hungarian colleagues," the political scientist believes.
Meanwhile, the EU intends to completely ban the supply of Russian energy resources. In June, a ban on gas supplies under short-term pipeline contracts is due to come into effect, and from November 2027, it is planned to stop long-term supplies. And, although Serbia is only a candidate for EU membership, great pressure is being exerted on it, Izvestia wrote earlier. Meanwhile, Brussels is imposing legislative restrictions, while the Kiev authorities are doing their "dirty work", destroying the critical infrastructure of Eastern European countries.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
