A Russian state TV presenter has threatened to sabotage key British undersea cables and pipes just days after explosions in the Baltic when the Nord Stream gas pipelines were located.
The Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines from Russia to Germany had four leaks after a series of apparent explosions off Denmark on Monday.
German officials believe it is beyond repair and could affect gas supply for years to come.
Western officials suspect the incident is a result of Russian bombing and Europe is now on high alert following the attack on its critical infrastructure.
But Russian state TV's Rossiya 1 channel claimed the Americans staged the disruption from the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge in a ploy to blame Moscow.
This is despite Russia admitting the Nord Stream pipeline explosions are an "act of terrorism."
Vladimir Kornilov, an RIA Novosti state news agency columnist, said: “Listen…if Russia decided to show what it is capable of, it would choose all sorts of objects near Britain, including underwater cables and the same pipes, gas pipelines.”
Britain has key communications and internet links to the continent and the US, as well as gas and power links to Europe.
Kornilov mocked the notion that Russia holed its own Nord Stream gas link, built to supply Europe, though not currently in use amid EU sanctions on Putin over the Ukraine war.
“If the…West swallows this, then they are incurable,” he said in a TV debate hosted by Putin’s ‘Iron Doll’ propaganda presenter Olga Skabeyeva.
Retired Lieutenant General Eugene Buzhinsky insisted: “No sane person can doubt [the Nord Stream explosions] were sabotage [by the West].
“I do not know how we will respond, but I think that such actions cannot be left unanswered…”
He responded to Kornilov's plan to attack Britain’s cables, while also advocating explosions on a Russian attack on a Polish-Norwegian pipe then blaming it on America.
“Well, the cables, yes - why not? You can at least shut it down for 24 hours and see what happens," he said.
“There is a Polish-Norwegian gas pipeline, which also runs along the bottom of the Baltic Sea - why not?
“We have combat swimmers, we have drones, we have everything. We have all means to respond. So let there be howling and howling that the Russians did it.
“Fine, and we'll say the Poles or the Americans did it to blame it on Russia.”
Military expert Andrey Klintsevich told Russian viewers that the Americans had caused the gas leaks in the Baltics by sending a dirty tricks team underwater to plant bombs on the pipes, these claims were unfounded.
“Helicopters flew from the amphibious assault ship USS Kearsarge, which approached [the Danish island of Bornholm] on September 21 [on exercises]", he said.
He continued: "[The vessel] turned off navigation systems and continued working. The ship has a floodable deck at the stern which allows…deployment of a super-small submarine.
"They did it, sailed away….then detonated and watched from helicopters.”
Military analysts have also raised the alarm that the Kremlin could cause mayhem and this may only be the start.
A British defence source suggested the “premeditated” sabotage could have been prepared by underwater drones that laid the explosives weeks beforehand.
