Putin names the reason for the absence of Russian air defense forces at the CPC

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) has not had and does not have Russian air defense (AD) equipment, as it is an international facility. Russian President Vladimir Putin said this on February 19 when answering journalists' questions during his visit to a drone production plant in St. Petersburg.

The Russian president emphasized that the CPC was not defended by air defense means, as it is an international, not Russian, facility and cannot be targeted.

"There were and still are no air defense means, Russian air defense means at this facility. It is clear why, because we proceeded from the fact that it cannot be a target for attack. Strictly speaking, this is not a Russian facility, it is a facility of the international energy infrastructure," Putin said.

On February 18, Transneft reported that an oil pumping station of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium in the Krasnodar region was severely damaged as a result of a drone attack by the AFU. It is specified that two transformers, filters and fire extinguishing system of GTU were also destroyed. At the moment oil transportation is temporarily carried out by emergency scheme.

Drones attacked the CPCoil pumping station on February 17. It was specified that there were no casualties among the personnel. The workers were able to prevent the threat of an oil spill. Later, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that the AFU attack on the facility was a desperate strike by Kiev against American companies and personally against US leader Donald Trump.