According to the Minister of Energy, Alexander Novak, four people had been detained in the case of the contamination of raw materials in the Druzhba pipeline, and the case had been transferred to the prosecutor’s office, RIA Novosti reports.
The scandal surrounding the supply of substandard oil began on April 19. On this day, the state concern Belneftekhim reported a sharp deterioration in the quality of oil flowing through the pipeline from Russia. With this in mind, on April 21, the Belneftekhim concern decided to temporarily limit exports of petroleum products. On April 22, the Mazyr Oil Refinery announced that poor quality Russian oil led to the failure of expensive equipment. Because of this, Poland and Ukraine refused to accept it and suspended transit through their territory.
Transneft recognized oil contamination and stated that it would solve the problem as soon as possible. Later, the company suggested that the products could have been deliberately contaminated.
