As we read on the Deutsche Welle website, Russian oil is doing very well in Germany, but our Western neighbors import it from Kazakhstan. The matter was made easier by lobbying from the left (Die Linke) and AfD.
How Germany gave up Russian oil
After the Russian aggression against Ukraine, as a gesture of solidarity with the country that repelled the attack, many countries decided to resign, including: from Russian raw materials. In the middle of last year, Germany decided to give up Russian oil, and the decision mainly affected two East German refineries: PCK in Schwedt and Leuna. The owner of the refinery in Schwedt is the Russian Rosneft, who at the time offered Germany to buy oil from Kazakhstan. Leuna, owned by France’s Total, began to diversify its supply and is currently largely reloading the raw material at Poland’s Naftoport in Gdańsk. We are talking about almost half of the refinery’s demand. The import of Kazakh oil to Schwedt was then presented as a compromise if Germany gave up Russian raw materials.
It turns out that before the decision was made, talks about oil supplies were held in Kazakhstan by politicians of the “Left” (Die Linke) and AfD parties, who already have some experience in cooperation with Russia. The populist AfD did not support giving up Russian raw materials and last fall asked the German government to suspend the decision to give up Russian oil, pointing to the ineffectiveness of such actions.
Eugen Schmidt, a member of the Bundestag, born in Kazakhstan and, in addition to being German, also holder of a Russian passport and displaced person status, was one of the authors of the application. Interestingly, the politician sometimes appeared in the Russian regime’s media, where he criticized Western policies.
German parliamentarians and lobbying in Kazakhstan
Although Berlin introduced receivership over Rosneft’s shares in September 2022, the Russian company is still the majority shareholder in Schwedt. In the summer of the same year, Christian Görke of the “Left” party (Die Linke) – former Deputy Prime Minister of Brandenburg, currently a member of the Bundestag – became interested in the refinery issue. In November he joined the German-Central Asian parliamentary group led by… Eugen Schmidt.
Die Linke was unanimous with the AfD and did not support the authorities’ decision to give up Russian oil. Görke was the first German politician to visit Kazakhstan after the Putin regime’s attack on Ukraine. It was in the second half of December 2022. The Parliamentarian’s Office of the Parliamentarian confirmed that the talks concerned oil supplies to Germany and were held with the Deputy Minister of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Asset Magauov, and with Magzum Mirzagaliyev, chairman of management. board of KazMunayGas. On the same day, the German government’s plenipotentiary for the PCK refinery, German Deputy Economy Minister Michael Kellner of the Green Party, held a video conference with Mirzagaliyev. As a ministry spokeswoman told DW, the ministry had not previously spoken to MP Görke about taking action and there were no instructions.
“Chemical properties of Russian oil
Research on oil flowing via the “Friendship” oil pipeline through Polish territory from Kazakhstan to the Schwedt refinery shows the chemical properties of Russian oil. The Polish Ministry of Climate drew attention to this
– emphasizes Deutsche Welle.
As we will learn later, the German Ministry of Economic Affairs, while not questioning the results, points out that the raw material was purchased in Kazakhstan.
aja/DW.com
Source: wPolityce