MOSCOW, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Russia said on Monday it had

downed nine Ukrainian drones that tried to attack part of the

infrastructure of the TurkStream gas pipeline, through which

Russian gas flows to Turkey and Europe, and called the attack an

"act of energy terrorism".

The Russian defence ministry said the attack was aimed

against a compressor station in the Krasnodar region of southern

Russia, but the facility was working normally and there were no

casualties.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Russia's TASS

news agency later on Monday as calling the attack an act of

energy terrorism. He said Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

and Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller had discussed the

alleged incident with their Turkish counterparts.

Peskov called it a new link in a chain of actions that he

said were dangerous for consumers and included explosions, the

preparation of explosions, and sabotage of the Nord Stream

pipeline between Russia and Europe.

Reuters could not confirm Ukrainian drones had on Monday

tried to attack pipeline infrastructure in Russia, which sent

tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine almost three years ago.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to a

request for comment. Ukrainian officials have previously denied

their country's involvement in explosions which damaged the Nord

Stream pipeline.

TurkStream and Blue Stream, which run under the Black Sea to

Turkey, are Russia's last routes for supplying pipeline gas to

Europe, after Ukraine at the start of the year refused to renew

a five-year transit deal that had allowed Russia to keep pumping

gas across its territory despite the war between the two

neighbours.

The Russian statement said falling fragments from one drone

had caused minor damage to the building and equipment of a gas

metering station at the compressor, but emergency teams had

quickly repaired it.

The gas pipeline begins at the Russkaya compressor station

outside the city of Anapa and runs to Kıyıköy in Turkey, and

then on to Europe. Compressor stations are used to stabilise the

pressure and flow rate of gas.