Druzhba oil halt and Russia's asset-sale ban, August 2022
A look back at two economic developments reported in the days before 11 August 2022, involving oil transit through Ukraine and foreign investors in Russia.
What was happening to Russian oil flowing through Ukraine on 11 August 2022? Reports in the preceding days described a suspension on the Druzhba pipeline, which carries crude to the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia.
On 9 August 2022, Russia's Transneft said Ukraine had suspended the flows. According to Transneft, the cause was an inability to pay transit fees to Ukraine's pipeline operator, UkrTransNafta. The Czech Republic's pipeline company said it expected supplies through the pipeline to restart within several days.
A separate economic measure had been taken a few days earlier. On 5 August 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree banning investors from "unfriendly countries" from selling their assets in Russian banks, strategic entities, and energy and commodity projects until 31 December.
Together, the two reports showed how payments, transit and ownership were all affected by the economic fallout of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine in the first days of August.
