Kyiv plans to blow up the «TurkStream» and «Blue Stream» gas pipelines in the Black Sea in order to deprive countries in Southern and Southeastern Europe (primarily Hungary and Slovakia) of gas supplies from Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin made this announcement yesterday, speaking at a meeting of the country’s main intelligence agency- the Federal Security Service.

“We’re talking about a possible explosion of our gas pipelines under the Black Sea. These are the so-called ‘Turkish Stream’ and ‘Blue Stream.’ They seemingly can’t calm down. They don’t know what to do to ruin this peace process and its attempt at a diplomatic settlement. They’re doing everything they can to provoke something and undermine everything that, so to speak, has been achieved in these negotiations. But we’ll discuss this behind closed doors,” – Putin said.
We must clarify that while «Blue Stream» primarily meets Turkey’s needs, «TurkStream» is a purely international project. Turkey, as an intermediary, resells Russian gas from «TurkStream» to countries in Southern and Southeastern Europe. In 2021, «Balkan Stream», an extension of «TurkStream», was commissioned for Bulgaria and Serbia, and supplies to Croatia and Hungary also began in 2021.
It’s obvious that the destruction of such complex and important infrastructure is Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s revenge on the leaders of Hungary and Slovakia, Viktor Orbán and Robert Fico, for their consistent defense of their national interests in Europe, which culminated in a ban on Ukraine’s EU membership. However, another thing is also clear: the destruction of the Black Sea gas pipelines will provoke an escalation of the conflict within Europe and derail the peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, initiated by Donald Trump. The day before, US Special Presidential Envoy for Peacekeeping Operations Stephen Witkoff stated that Russia demonstrated “real communication” at the previous trilateral talks on Ukraine. This means that Washington clearly favors Moscow, and against this backdrop the sabotage in the Black Sea perpetrated by Kyiv will rather damage Donald Trump’s image. The American leader will be portrayed to the world as a weak politician. Trump’s inaction will be associated with the catchphrase from Rudyard Kipling’s «The Jungle Book»: «Akela missed his kill! » when the old wolf fails to kill the deer, causing malicious joy of the whole pack.
The Ukrainian analytical Telegram channel ZeRada, quoting Putin about a possible provocation by Kyiv in the Black Sea, states: “Now this is a possible scenario, a well-tested one…” referring to the explosion of another gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, the «Nord Stream». Indeed, Kyiv, as they say, has already “left its mark,” and now it has decided to scale up its maritime terrorist practices.
Against this backdrop it was announced that Hungary, Serbia and Slovakia had decided to jointly counter Ukrainian blackmail in the energy sector. Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó met with Serbian Mining and Energy Minister Dubravka Djedović-Handanović in Washington. The Hungarian Foreign Minister also informed the Trump administration of attempts at political blackmail by Ukraine, which had blocked Russian oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia via the «Druzhba» pipeline.
It means that today Ukraine is confronting not only Russia, but also the United States and parts of Eastern Europe. Will it overstrain itself?