Russian Warship Guarding TurkStream Pipeline Attacked by Ukraine

The Russian Ministry of Defense announced today, Wednesday, that three unmanned Ukrainian speedboats carried out a failed attack on the Russian warship Ivan Horz in the Black Sea near the Bosphorus Strait.

In a statement posted on Telegram, the ministry said the warship was protecting the TurkStream and Blue Stream gas pipelines – which transport gas from Russia to Turkey, partly through the Black Sea – and “continues to perform its duties”.

No comment was immediately available from Kiev.

The ministry cited the attack as a justification for Russia to expand defensive measures. Explosions last September destroyed Nord Stream 1 and 2, transporting gas from Russia under the Baltic Sea to Germany.

The Russian statement is likely to raise tensions in the Black Sea, where only last week Russia agreed, a day before the deadline, to extend an agreement allowing Ukraine to export grain safely from its seaports.

The Turk Stream carries gas from Russia’s Taman Peninsula westward across the width of the Black Sea to a point west of the Bosphorus.

However, the blue current crosses the eastern Black Sea from north to south, making landfall more than 700 kilometers east of the Bosphorus Strait.

“All enemy boats were destroyed by the standard armament fire of a Russian ship 140 kilometers northeast of the Bosphorus Strait,” the statement added.

Ivan Hurs is a medium reconnaissance ship launched in 2013.