‘Yandex’ Forced To Hide One Of Major Refineries On Russian Maps Because Of AFU Attacks

This is what the court in Moscow decided.

For the first time, a court in Moscow has ordered Yandex to shut down access to maps and photos of the infrastructure of one of Russia's largest oil refineries because of the threat of Ukrainian drone attacks. This follows from court documents analysed by TASS.

The court ruling says that Yandex must ‘exclude information access’ to the refinery's infrastructure within one month ‘by deleting, retouching graphic images of the plant's constituent parts (shops, compressor stations, sites with tanks, other elements of the plant) from the Yandex Maps search and information mapping service.’

The lawsuit was filed with the court by the ‘supervisory agency’, which conducted an inspection of compliance with legislation in the sphere of the defence industry and found information about all the refinery's facilities in the public domain. The lawsuit notes that the plant in question ‘is working in an uninterrupted mode, providing the needs of the Russian army and navy during the special military operation’ and was attacked by Ukrainian drones four times in 2024 alone. As a result of the attacks, the company's infrastructure was damaged and its employees were injured.

It is noted that before going to court, the ‘supervisory agency’ tried to resolve the issue directly with ‘Yandex’, but this resulted in nothing. The court decided that open access to maps and photos of refineries ‘undermine the defence capability of the state’, as well as ‘have a negative impact on the timely delivery of materials’ to the Russian army. According to the court ruling, Yandex was also charged the state fee.

In 2024, Ukraine has focused on strikes against Russia's fuel and energy complex. According to the Financial Times, by October, in addition to oil depots, at least nine of Russia's 32 largest refineries had been hit. The attacks peaked in May. At that time, according to Sergei Vakulenko of the Carnegie Eurasia Centre, 17% of the country's refining capacity was knocked out.

The Novoshakhtinsk refinery, located 100 kilometres from Rostov-on-Don, fits the description given in the court ruling. It is considered the largest in southern Russia and can supply the Russian army. It has come under attack by Ukrainian drones four times during the full-scale war in Ukraine. The last time a fire at the plant was reported by acting governor of the Rostov region Yuri Slyusar on December 19 after the drone attacks. After that, the refinery shut down both primary oil refining units.

Overall, as a result of Ukrainian drone attacks, Russia's oil refining volumes fell to a 12-year low of 266.9 million tonnes in 2024, Reuters reported. This is 8.1 million tonnes less than a year earlier.

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