Vladimir Putin issued fresh veiled threats against the world yesterday as he said all international infrastructure is at risk of terror attacks.
Speaking at Russian Energy Week on Wednesday, he branded the Nord Stream gas pipeline blast an act of terror that set "the most dangerous precedent".
The explosion has widely been blamed on sabotage with Russia as the chief culprit.
The tyrant told the Moscow forum: "“It shows that any critically important object of transport, energy or utilities infrastructure is under threat”.
He added that ownership or where the resources are located doesn't matter.
The Nord Stream gas link to Germany is now out of action after a leak last month that both Russia and the West have blamed on sabotage, without identifying who was behind it.
President Vladimir Putin said leaks in the two Nord Stream pipelines running under the Baltic Sea were an "act of international terrorism" to deprive people of cheap energy.
The despot went on to blame Europe for its own energy crisis, claiming its policies had starved the oil and gas industry of investment.
The impact of efforts to use less Russian energy, plus steep cuts in supplies from Russia, have been felt across the 27-nation EU, with gas prices almost 90% higher than a year ago and fears of rationing and power cuts over the coming winter.
In an ominous warning, Russia today threatened that if Ukraine was to join NATO, it would guarantee the outbreak of World War Three.
It comes as a UN General Assembly resolution called Moscow's annexation of Ukrainian territory "illegal" and Ukraine's allies committed more military aid.
Russia repeated its position that the West, by helping Ukraine, indicated that "they are a direct party to the conflict" and warned the admission of Ukraine to NATO could trigger World War Three.
"Kyiv is well aware that such a step would mean a guaranteed escalation to a World War Three," deputy secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Alexander Venediktov, told state news agency TASS on Thursday.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy announced a surprise bid for fast-track membership of the NATO military alliance at the end of September, after Russian President Vladimir Putin held a ceremony in Moscow to proclaim four partially occupied regions as annexed Russian land.
In the past 24 hours, Russian missiles hit more than 40 settlements, while Ukraine's air force carried out 32 strikes on 25 Russian targets, Ukraine's Armed Forces General Staff said.
Mayor of the port city of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Senkevich, said in a social media post that the southern city was "massively shelled".
