Ukrainian authorities are investigating whether an explosion on the main gas pipeline to Europe was a terrorist attack, the interior minister said yesterday.
The explosion occurred yesterday afternoon in a rural area along the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhgorod pipeline, one of the main conduits through which Russia’s Gazprom pumps gas into Ukraine and then on to European markets, according to regional police.
Witnesses reported hearing smaller explosions before the bigger pipeline blast, fuelling suspicions among Ukrainian officials of a deliberate attack. The explosion sent smoke and flames high into the air.
Ukraine’s state oil and gas company Naftogaz said the damage at the pipeline “had been localised”, adding: “Transit is not affected. Nobody was injured. The cause is being investigated.”
The explosion appeared to mark another sign of deteriorating security in Ukraine, where Kiev’s new western-leaning government is battling to remove pro-Russian separatists from two eastern provinces.
A day earlier, Gazprom had cut gas supplies to Ukraine in a dispute over pricing and unpaid bills. Kiev has deemed the shut-off another form of Russian aggression in an effort to undermine the government.
Arsen Avakov, Ukraine’s interior minister, suggested a Russian motive for a pipeline attack, saying the blast could have been “an attempt from the side of Russia to discredit Ukraine” as a reliable transit country for natural gas.
Avakov speculated that the aim of an attack might have been to boost support in the EU for the construction of South Stream, a Gazprom-backed pipeline project that would carry Russian gas to Europe without crossing Ukraine.
A person close to Gazprom said the blast appeared to be an accident, although it was too early to be certain of the causes, and reiterated that flows to Europe had not been affected.
Russia supplies about 30 per cent of Europe’s gas needs, with half that fuel arriving via Ukraine’s vast pipeline transit system. Any disruption could damage Gazprom’s reputation as a reliable supplier.
Naftogaz said the ability to limit pipeline damage while maintaining stable gas flows to European markets demonstrated the reliability of Ukraine’s gas transport system, even when operating “under non-standard conditions with the halt in gas supplies to Ukraine from the Russian Federation
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