The Sabotage of Gas Pipelines Were a ‘Warning Shot’ from Putin to the West, and Should Brace for More Subterfuge, Russia Experts Warn

Russia's influence over Europe's energy supply has been a constant point of concern since the Ukraine war began in late February. The EU has been scrambling to find gas supplies for winter as it moves to curb its dependence on Russian energy. The pipeline ruptures caused already sky-high gas prices to go up, and also raised a number of environmental concerns.

Andrea Kendall-Taylor said that there were a number of motivations for Russia to carry out sabotage like this, with Moscow looking for an "immediate" way to "increase the pain directly on Europe."

There's also a "broader play, which is Russia signaling to the West that it has a whole suite of non-conventional tools that it can use to be disruptive and to increase the pain so long as the support for Ukraine continues," Kendall-Taylor said, describing these leaks as a "warning shot" from the Kremlin.

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