The number of suspects Russia is investigating over a major oil contamination in the Druzhba pipeline earlier this year has risen from 10 to 13, RIA news agency reported on Friday, citing a lawyer for one of the suspects.
The Samara District Court on Friday extended the detention of Vladimir Zhogolev, General Director of oil company Petroneft Aktiv, accused of tainting the oil which caused a far-reaching oil supply crisis, the news agency said.
Transneft, Russia’s pipeline monopoly, said earlier that four suspects in the case worked for its Transneft-Druzhba subsidiary, while six other people had also earlier been accused of involvement.
The Druzhba oil pipeline provides supplies of oil to Belarusian refineries and its transit to Europe through Belarus, Poland and Ukraine.
In mid-April, Belneftekhim reported a sharp deterioration in the quality of the Russian oil running through the pipeline. As a result, several states stopped receiving and refining the Russian oil. The contaminant source was revealed at the Samara-Unecha section. Transneft said that the Russian oil in the Druzhba pipeline was deliberately contaminated. Russia’s Investigative Committee said that contaminated oil was loaded into the Druzhba oil pipeline in order to conceal multiple oil thefts.
On Saturday, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak told reporters that the oil pollution crisis supplied through the Druzhba pipeline has been overcome.
“We have already overcome the crisis, in principle, we have been supplying high-quality oil for a long time,” Novak said.
