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Moscow Court Orders Yandex Maps to Blur Images of Key Oil Refinery Following Drone Attacks

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Moscow Court Orders Yandex Maps to Blur Images of Key Oil Refinery Following Drone Attacks
Ryazan Oil Refinery, 2022. (Source: Wikimedia)

A Moscow court has ruled that Yandex  must restrict access to maps and images of one of Russia’s largest oil refineries following repeated drone attacks, shows court documents reviewed by Russian state news agency TASS on January 3.

“The court orders Yandex LLC to, within one month of the ruling’s enforcement, remove or blur images of the refinery’s infrastructure—including workshops, compressor stations, tank areas, and other facilities—from the Yandex Maps service,” the court’s decision stated. Yandex was also ordered to pay a state duty as part of the ruling.

According to a prosecutor’s office representative, the refinery is located in a strategically important region and is critical in supporting Russia’s military and naval operations.

The plant, which has reportedly been operational without interruption, was attacked four times in 2024 by drones. These strikes caused infrastructure damage and injuries among refinery employees.

The refinery is said to be integral to Russia’s defense and industrial complex, necessitating the removal of public access to its detailed infrastructure images.

Russian outlet Mediazona clarified that the court ordered Yandex to delete images of the Ryazan Oil Refinery, part of Rosneft.

Earlier, a Ukrainian drone attack on the Novoshakhtinsk Oil Refinery, the largest refinery in southern Russia, forced it to halt operation.

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