Possible Terrorist Attack on the Friendship Pipeline Prevented

“Two foreign nationals detained by local authorities last week in connection with possible preparations for a terrorist attack on the Friendship oil pipeline in the east of the country have been expelled from Slovakia,” Slovak Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok announced. The politician spoke at the end of the week about the possibility of an attack on the critical infrastructure not only in Slovakia but also in Hungary.

The Interior Minister first spoke about the incident on a political program on Slovak public media on Saturday, when he said that activity had been detected in the east of the country that suggested possible preparations for a terrorist attack on critical infrastructure. At the time, the minister spoke of

an organized group “carrying out field observations at the gas pipeline or the Friendship oil pipeline, not only in Slovakia but also in Hungary.”

In this context, the Security Council of the Slovak government had already decided on Thursday to reinforce the protection of the country’s critical infrastructure, but the specific reasons for this were not given at the time.

Matúš Šutaj Eštok said in a video post on Monday that the investigation into the case was still ongoing, but that swift measures had already been taken to prevent a possible terrorist attack of this kind.

The politician explained that three people are suspected of possible preparations for the attack on the gas or oil pipeline, one of them a Slovak citizen and two foreigners. According to an earlier report by the Slovak public news agency TASR, Pavol Gaspar, head of the Slovak secret service (SIS), mentioned the detention of two Ukrainian citizens on Tuesday in connection with the case.

One person was deported to Hungary and the other was immediately extradited to the Ukrainian authorities as part of the deportation procedure,”

the Slovak Interior Minister said on Monday. He added that the suspects had carried out field surveillance with the help of drones at several energy infrastructure facilities, including the Eustream gas compressor station in Veľké Kapušany (Nagykapos), the power plant in Vojany (Vaján), at railway stations, and on the Slovak-Ukrainian border. During the operation, codenamed “Vostok,” the Slovak authorities also seized a number of communications and other technical equipment used for surveillance, including thermal cameras, night vision, and jamming equipment.

The Hungarian government informed the press that they were in constant contact with the Slovak authorities and had taken the necessary measures.

According to The Kyiv Independent, the Friendship oil pipeline in Poland was damaged in the meantime on Sunday. A growing oil slick was noticed in the west of the country. PERN, the company operating the pipeline on Polish territory, said on Monday morning that the damage had been found, but did not appear to be the result of sabotage.

Via MTI, The Kyiv Independent; Featured image: Pixabay