Moscow has this week made a big and provocative accusation, saying that the United States is seeking to sabotage the last pipeline transporting Russian gas exports into Europe, the TurkStream. Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov alleged in a Tuesday press briefing that Washington is encouraging “terrorist” attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure. He specifically cited plans to target TurkStream, following a recent large-scale drone attack. “The US does not tolerate competition in any sphere, including energy. They are recklessly endorsing terrorist activities aimed at undermining the energy stability of the European Union,” Lavrov said as quoted in Turkey’s Anadolu news agency. “They are encouraging their Ukrainian proxies to disable TurkStream following the sabotage of Nord Stream,” he followed with. He described that Russia’s anti-air defenses were able to down nine Ukrainian drones during the attack which targeted part of TurkStream’s infrastructure. On Wednesday regional media quoted Turkey’s top energy official as confirming there was an attempted attack out of Ukraine, but that gas is still flowing uninterrupted: Following an attempted attack on the TurkStream natural gas pipeline on Jan. 11, Türkiye’s Minister of Energy and Natural Resources, Alparslan Bayraktar, confirmed the attack took place but assured the public that the incident […]