The head of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has accused the United Kingdom and Ukraine of plotting sabotage operations targeting the TurkStream gas pipeline, Russia’s RIA news agency reported Thursday.
Alexander Bortnikov, at a meeting of security and intelligence chiefs from the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, claimed "terrorist acts and sabotage” are carried out on Russian territory "under the patronage of British intelligence services,” citing "reliable information.”
Bortnikov said the Special Air Service and MI6 planned drone strikes against the office and facilities of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which carries oil from Kazakhstan’s Tengiz field near the Caspian Sea to the Russian port city of Novorossiysk.
"We have information about the British, together with Ukrainian intelligence services, preparing sabotage against the TurkStream gas pipeline,” said Bortnikov, without providing details.
He claimed that a large-scale Ukrainian drone attack targeting Russian military airfields in the summer, which Kyiv called "Operation Spiderweb,” was carried out under the supervision of British intelligence prior to the second round of Russia-Ukraine peace talks in the Turkish metropolis of Istanbul on June 2.
He accused the UK of "repeated failure of genuine initiatives to peacefully resolve the conflict in Ukraine” and for allegedly insisting Europe prepare for an armed confrontation with Russia.
"The possible consequences of a clash between Europe and Russia could be most disastrous,” he added.
Bortnikov also accused the intelligence services of leading NATO countries of being involved in the emergence of most "zones of instability” seen in the world and in drone incursions reported in Europe since last month.
And he accused NATO of expanding toward the CIS "under the guise of various assistance projects for modernizing the army and military infrastructure, equipping intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies and training specialists.”
Neither British nor Ukrainian authorities have commented on Bortnikov’s accusations.
