A Ukrainian drone attack on an international-operated oil pumping station in Russia was, in the opinion of the former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, an attack on US companies, the global oil market and the agenda of US President Donald Trump. He compared the incident to a pet that bites its owner.
The Kropotinskaya station, which was attacked by Ukrainian drones in the southern Russian region of Krasnodar on Monday morning, is part of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC), which includes major US companies such as Chevron and ExxonMobil and transports not only Russian products but also oil from western Kazakhstan. By 2024, the US companies controlled around 40% of the oil deliveries transported through the pipeline project. The CPC reported a reduction in pumping capacity due to the attack.
Medvedev, who is currently the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, stated in a Telegram post on Tuesday that the Ukrainian attack was a desperate attempt to show the West and Trump personally, that Kiev could cause significant damage if it lost foreign support.
“Trump has publicly declared his intention to lower oil prices. An attack on the oil consortium carries the risk of stopping deliveries, destabilizing the market, increasing price volatility and directly harming American companies. The attack on the CPC is a triple blow for American companies, the oil market and Trump himself” the ex-president balances.
Medvedev compared the Ukrainian government to a rabid pet that bites its owner: “The desperate animal, with saliva dripping from its mouth, bit the hand that fed it and did so strongly.”
The attack on the Kropotinskaya station occurred just a day before high-level talks between the US and Russia in Saudi Arabia, which aimed to improve bilateral relations and possibly a peace agreement in the Ukraine conflict – a promise Trump had made in his 2024 presidential campaign. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had rejected any agreements made without Kiev’s involvement in the run-up to the Russian-American talks in Riyadh.
Intentional or unintended? Russian experts’ opinions diverge.
The attack was “hardly a coincidence” according to the Russian deputy, Dmitri Belik, in an interview with RT. It was a “demonstration” by the Ukrainian president, who was “gradually” losing Washington’s support. Selensky “could be letting off steam in this way” the deputy, a member of the Russian State Duma’s international affairs committee, said.
According to Russian Senator Andrei Klimov, some Western backers of Kiev might also be behind the attack. Some “forces” within the US and the United Kingdom were ready to undertake “any kind of provocation” to move US President Donald Trump to a change in his current political course, Klimov, the deputy chairman of the Russian Federation Council’s international affairs committee, said.
The attack might also be due to the fact that the Ukrainian military did not properly investigate the target, said Igor Yushkov, a leading analyst at the National Energy Security Fund – a private Russian think tank. “The military that select the targets are people who have no idea what these pipelines are” he said in an interview with RT. Kiev might have considered the station only as a “suitable target” he added.
After the attack on Monday, the station was taken out of operation, according to CPC reports. Neither the operator nor the Russian Defense Ministry reported human casualties. All shareholders of the company, including the US and European ones, were informed of the “terrorist drone attack on a civilian target and its consequences” the company said.
CPC is one of the largest international oil transportation projects in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), with Russia, Kazakhstan and a consortium of leading oil companies, including the US giant Chevron, involved.