Peskov: Attempted attack on gas pipeline in Serbia a potentially very dangerous situation

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov assessed today that the attempted diversion of the Serbian section of the TurkStream gas pipeline is a "potentially very dangerous" situation and said that Russia is taking the necessary measures to secure this infrastructure and hopes that Hungary and Serbia will do the same.

Peskov said at a regular briefing that "there is no reliable evidence of who is behind the attempted attack on the Serbian part of the TurkStream, but that traces of the involvement of the Kiev regime can be assumed," the TASS agency reported.

"The situation is potentially very dangerous, we know that various parts of the infrastructure of both the 'Turkish Stream' and the 'Blue Stream' have repeatedly been the target of attacks by the Kiev regime," Peskov said.

Peskov said that Russia is taking the necessary measures to ensure the security of the TurkStream and Blue Stream infrastructure and expressed hope that Budapest and Belgrade will also take "necessary measures" aimed at "minimizing threats to gas pipelines" on European territory.

"Moscow hopes that Hungary and Serbia will also (like Russia) take measures to try to minimize the threat to these gas pipelines," Peskov said.

Speaking about the assumptions that the Kiev regime could be behind these sabotage attempts, he pointed out that he had previously had direct connections with such activities.

"Before this, as we know, the Kiev regime had direct links to such acts of sabotage against critical energy structures, so it can be assumed with a high degree of probability that traces of the Kiev regime's involvement will be discovered this time as well," Peskov said.

He said that Moscow hopes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was made aware in Ankara of the inadmissibility of aggressive actions against the infrastructure of the Turkish Stream and Blue Stream gas pipelines.

The Serbian Ministry of Defense confirmed on Sunday that a large quantity of explosives, as well as items and tools necessary for their preparation and use, were found during a search in the territory of Kanjiža, as previously announced by the media and the president of the country. The suspicious items were, as stated, located in the immediate vicinity of the gas pipeline, or gas infrastructure connecting Serbia and Hungary.