Putin: The West Should Repair The Damage Done By Ukraine To Oil Infrastructure

Russian President Vladimir Putin says that the West should be responsible for repairing the damage done by a Ukrainian drone strike. The recently targeted Kropotkinskaya oil pumping station is operated by a consortium partly controlled by American companies.

“Since they [the Western companies] are… interested in restoring the facility’s operational capacity, then let them arrange for the necessary equipment delivery despite all the sanctions,” Putin said. He added that the CPC shareholders would be doing this “for their own benefit” anyway. Moscow will provide the necessary assistance, he noted.

The infrastructure is operated by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which is partly controlled by companies from the United States and the European Union.

Ukraine Acting Like “Rabid Animal” After Drone Strike On American Oil Interests

The station was attacked on Monday by at least seven Ukrainian drones, Russia’s deputy prime minister and former energy minister, Aleksandr Novak, told Putin during a government meeting on Tuesday. The strike damaged critical components, prompting its operators to resort to a reserve pumping scheme and slash capacity by 30-40%, the official said, according to a report by RT. 

According to Novak, restoring the station’s full capacity would require “major repairs” since it used Western equipment, including from Germany’s Siemens, which has previously refused to supply equipment for Russian gas pipelines, citing sanctions. Repairing the facility could, according to Novak, take “quite a long time.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged that the West would need to address the sanctions imposed on Russia in order to reach a lasting solution to the conflict but didn’t specifically say that eliminating those could help with the repairs of the oil pumping station.

Western Attempts At Crippling Russia’s Economy With Sanctions Have FAILED, Warns Putin

United States President Donald Trump has recently expressed disappointment in Ukriane’s ruling class as well. While not speaking directly to the attack on the Kropotkinskaya oil station, but more to the situation at large, Trump said: “I’m really disappointed in what’s happened. I’ve been watching this for three years… I hear that, you know, they’re upset about not having a seat. Well, they’ve had a seat for three years and a long time before that.”