"The CPC was attacked by drones, and the Ukrainian side acknowledged its responsibility for what happened. The motivation of the attacking side was that it reserves the right to carry out "strikes on strategic facilities that support Russia's armed aggression." There are many economic and diplomatic contradictions in this position and it raises the question of why this was ultimately done. Obviously, the Ukrainian side knew that 90% of the oil that is pumped through this pipeline flows from Kazakhstan, extracted from our Tengiz field, and various Western companies that export raw materials to the EU. At the same time, this pipeline is international, and among its shareholders are KazMunaiGas, as well as the American Chevron, ExxonMobil and the Italian Eni, who are interested in stable supplies. We can say that the purpose of the attack was to damage our economic interests specifically,” Shatalov wrote in his Telegram channel.
He emphasized that Kazakhstan has taken a neutral position in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict from the very beginning.
“We did not support any of the parties and also observed all sanctions against the Russian Federation. Diplomatic contacts between our countries have not been ceased, and the dialogue was also at the highest level - our President Tokayev contacted Zelensky. The head of state spoke separately about the LPR/DPR problem, calling them quasi-state entities that, according to the UN Charter, we cannot recognize as separate entities. I think that those who made the decision to attack the infrastructure of the international consortium should be punished for this crime against our interests. Kazakhstan should hold the Ukrainian side accountable for the losses incurred and for aggression against our interests, which is not motivated in any way and calls into question the Kazakh-Ukrainian relations," Shatalov said.
Photo source: picture from an open source