That would be seen as an act of war and would escalate things quicker than Russia thinks it can handle.

Because it would be a direct attack on NATO.

You can't effectively defend hundreds of kilometers of an underwater pipeline, you can only increase monitoring but that doesn't stop the pipe from being blown up. In fact the charges could have already been placed, before any extra monitoring was deployed, and are just waiting for a signal.

The point being - Russia has sent a very clear message that if we don't stop pushing back on Ukraine, that pipeline is next to blow up. There is almost nothing we can do to prevent it if they want to make it happen.

What has Russia gained from any of their actions thus far in the war in Ukraine? I wouldn’t discount something solely because it appears to be a short sighted action that backfires in their face.

tbqf that ship has kind of sailed - it'd be hard for the EU to continue to depend on Russian gas after this war anyways.