News
A Russian court has required the IT company Yandex to block access to maps and images of an oil refinery following attacks by Ukrainian drones, according to court documents cited by state-run news agency TASS. The restrictions apply to a refinery in the Ryazan Region, 125 miles southeast of Moscow.
Yandex — often referred to as “Russia’s Google” — notably operates the country’s largest search engine, along with a range of other services that include the mapping and navigation platform Yandex.Maps.
“LLC Yandex is ordered, within one month from the date the court ruling takes legal effect, to restrict informational access to the infrastructure of the oil refining company by removing or blurring graphical images of the facility's components from the Yandex Maps search and information cartographic service,” read the court ruling. Yandex was also required to contribute a state duty to the federal budget.
In late December, Ukraine targeted the only oil refinery in Russia’s southern Rostov Region — Novoshakhtinsk, which TASS identifies as the largest such facility in southern Russia. With a total capacity of 5.6 million tons, Novoshakhtinsk specializes in producing fuel oil, heating oil, marine and diesel fuels, and straight-run gasoline. Ukrainian investigative project Skhemy (lit. “Schemes”) revealed that the refinery was previously owned by the family of Viktor Medvedchuk — a pro-Russian Ukrainian politician and oligarch known for his close ties to Vladimir Putin.
Medvedchuk, who was put under house arrest in Ukraine in May 2021 and made an unsuccessful attempt to escape the country shortly after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, was swapped in September 2022 for 215 Ukrainian prisoners of war — including fighters from the Azov Regiment who had defended Mariupol.
In early 2024, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) ramped up drone strikes on Russian fuel infrastructure. According to calculations cited by Reuters, around 14% of Russia's refining capacity had been shut down by drone attacks as of late March of last year. A successful hit on an oil refinery can render it inoperative for an extended period of time, especially as international sanctions on Russia complicate the procurement of spare parts and limit its access to Western technologies.