Moscow is using oil blackmail to protect its ports from Ukrainian attacks
Russia has halted the transit of Kazakh oil to Germany via the Druzhba pipeline in an attempt to pressure Berlin into exerting pressure on Kyiv.
Russian experts directly link this move to a desire to secure their own port infrastructure, which is regularly targeted by Ukrainian drones.
According to Russian media reports, oil from Kazakhstan will now be routed to ports on the Black and Baltic Seas.
This creates a situation in which the stability of Germany’s energy supply will directly depend on the security of Russian maritime hubs.
Igor Yushkov, an expert at the Russian Federation’s National Energy Security Fund, notes that Germany is now “more interested in stopping attacks from Ukraine.”
The Kremlin’s logic is simple: if Ukrainian forces attack Russian ports, Germany will face a shortage of raw materials, since Kazakhstani oil will be loaded there.
Moscow believes that Berlin has “financial leverage” over Kyiv in the form of further aid tranches. Thus, shutting down the “Druzhba” pipeline is an attempt to provoke a conflict between Ukraine and its largest European arms donor.
The suspension of transit through the Druzhba pipeline will deal a serious blow to the PCK oil refinery in Schwedt.
This facility is critical to the region, as it supplies 90% of the gasoline and diesel needs of Berlin, Brandenburg, and the capital’s main airport.
The German government has already announced that it is seeking alternative routes via the port of Rostock. However, the capacity of this route may not be sufficient to fully replace the volumes that previously arrived steadily by land through Russian territory.
Two more refineries in Russia have halted operations following drone strikes
Rockets struck the "Molniya" drone manufacturing plant in Taganrog
Also, on April 18, the Ukrainian military destroyed a Russian TOS-1A “Sontsepok” heavy flamethrower system in the temporarily occupied territory of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
Ukrainian defenders launched a successful strike on enemy logistics hubs, destroying tankers carrying petroleum products near the temporarily occupied city of Luhansk.
