Armenia gas supplies from Russia stopped by 'bomb'

Russia supplies about two billion cubic metres of gas to Armenia each year

Russia has temporarily halted gas supplies to Armenia after an explosive device was found near a pipeline, Russian news reports say.

A security official said exports via North Ossetia and Ingushetia were stopped and would not resume until the device was defused, Interfax reported.

Supplies to Georgia were not affected, a spokeswoman for Georgia's Oil and Gas Corporation said.

The Ingushetia region has been the focus of attacks by Islamist rebels.

Militants have been battling pro-Kremlin authorities and Russian security forces in a low-level insurgency in Ingushetia and the Caucasus region for years.

Armenia receives about two billion cubic metres of gas a year from Russia via Georgia.

It is not known who was behind the planting of the device on the pipeline.