Germany seizes Rosneft’s refinery

Germany took control of a major Russian-owned oil refinery on Friday, risking retaliation from Moscow as Berlin struggles to hold up energy supplies and meet its European Union commitment to cut Russian energy imports by the end of 2022.

The economy ministry said it was putting a unit of Russian oil firm Rosneft under the trusteeship of the industry regulator and taking over Schwedt refinery, which supplies 90% of Berlin’s fuel.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz stressed that the measure protects the German interests by putting the Schwedt refinery under the control of the Federal Network Agency regulator.

The German plans also include a package for the future with more than 1 billion Euros in federal and state government investments over several years in eastern German states, with 825 million euros earmarked for Schwedt alone.

“Russia, we have known for some time, is no longer a reliable energy supplier,” Scholz said adding, “We did not take this decision lightly, but it was unavoidable.”