Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on Monday, September 28, signed a decree restricting access to information "in the fuel and energy sector." The Moscow Times reports, according to UNN.
Details
According to the document published on the legal information portal, the dissemination of data on the operations of Russian oil refineries will be banned. These facilities have been targeted by Ukrainian UAV attacks and have lost a third of their refining capacity this year.
From now on, "information on the volumes of processing and production of goods by a legal entity—a Russian oil refinery," according to the decree, will be included on the list to which access is "restricted."
The dissemination of information on the names and quantities of energy commodities exported, sellers, buyers and intermediaries, mutual settlements, the time and dates of deliveries, the means of transport used for shipping, routes, terminals and warehouses, including their geographic coordinates, is also prohibited. Consolidated customs statistics and information on planned sales volumes of fuel and energy sector products will also be classified as "secret."
As follows from the decree, publishing such data is prohibited not only for government agencies, including Rosstat, which publishes official statistics, but also for mass media and other users who disseminate information online. An exception is made for statements by the producer or exporter companies themselves.
The specific goods to which the ban will apply must be determined by the government within 10 days, according to the document.
These measures are being introduced "in connection with the need to take urgent measures in response to the unfriendly actions of the United States that contradict international law, and of foreign states that have joined them, as well as international organizations," the decree says.