Russia is ready to resume gas deliveries on one of the two underwater pipelines damaged by still-unexplained blasts late September, President Vladimir Putin said.

Mr Putin said it appeared the Nord Stream 2 pipeline linking Russia to Germany via the Baltic Sea, which was fully constructed but never went into actual operation, could be repaired so that supplies once again flow to Europe.

The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines were ruptured by powerful underwater explosions in September, in what European capitals have called cases of suspected sabotage.

“There is no doubt, this is an act of international terrorism, a deeply dangerous precedent,” Mr Putin said during an appearance at the Russian Energy Week in Moscow.

The goal, he said, was to irrevocably rupture relations between the EU and Russia and weaken Europe.

Previously, he has suggested Washington would benefit from such an attack.

Russia halted gas deliveries through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in early September, citing technical problems that it said could not be fixed because of Western sanctions.

The Nord Stream 2 pipeline was put on ice by Berlin because of Russia’s war in Ukraine.

(dpa/NAN)