Russia says increased Ukrainian attacks threaten gas export routes
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A 3D printed natural gas pipeline is placed in front of displayed Gazprom logo and Russian flag in this illustration taken February 8, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
MOSCOW, March 19 (Reuters) - The Kremlin on Thursday condemned what it called an intensification of Ukrainian attacks on Gazprom gas compressor stations serving two major pipelines, saying such incidents threatened critical infrastructure and international energy routes.
Gazprom said earlier that attacks on three compressor stations supporting the TurkStream and Blue Stream pipelines had increased in frequency this week, but all of them had been repelled.
The two pipelines carry Russia gas across the Black Sea to Turkey, from which some of it is pumped to European countries including Hungary, Slovakia and Serbia.
They are Russia's last remaining pipeline routes serving Europe, at a time when gas prices have spiked sharply because of the war in the Middle East.
There was no immediate comment from Ukraine, which throughout the four-year conflict has targeted Russian energy infrastructure as a means of undercutting Moscow's war effort and reducing its revenue.
Russia has also pounded Ukrainian energy targets including its electricity grid, frequently cutting off power and heating.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the latest Ukrainian attacks created an additional threat to energy markets at a time of "extreme destabilisation" caused by the Middle East war.
"Our military is doing everything possible to eliminate this threat. But this is a threat to critical infrastructure. It is a threat to international energy routes," Peskov told reporters.
"And at a time when global energy markets are feeling, to put it mildly, uneasy, such irresponsible, thoughtless actions by the Kyiv regime are capable of further destabilising the situation."
(Reporting by Dmitry Antonov; writing by Lucy Papachristou; editing by Mark Trevelyan and Jason Neely)
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