Mykola Tokariev, head of the Russian “Transneft”, said this in an interview with the Russia-24 TV channel. His comment was spread by other Russian resources and propagandists on social networks.

According to him, after the introduction of an embargo on the supply of Russian oil to the EU countries, “Transneft” received requests from Poland and Germany for the next year.

The sixth package of EU sanctions provides for the cessation of purchases of Russian oil, but makes an exception for the supply of the “Druzhba” (Friendship) oil pipeline.

Berlin denied the statement of the head of “Transneft” that Germany was in fact violating the EU embargo. Susanne Ungard, spokeswoman for the German Ministry of Economy and Climate Protection, told Deutsche Welle that no Russian oil will be purchased in the new year. German plants that previously worked on Russian oil are switching to Kazakh raw materials. Part of the supplies will go through the “Druzhba” oil pipeline through the territories of Russia, Belarus and Poland, and the refinery has reserved the capacity of the oil pipeline specifically for Kazakh oil.

The Polish oil company Orlen has announced that it will not renew the contract for the supply of Russian oil, which expires in January 2023, and the contract concluded by December 2024 will be terminated. According to Orlen speaker Edita Olkovych, the company is ready for a complete cessation of supplies from Russia. Already, 70% of the oil supplied to its refineries in Poland, Lithuania and the Czech Republic is not of Russian origin, although back in 2015 they worked almost entirely on Russian raw materials. Orlen currently buys oil from Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Angola and Norway.

The purpose of such a fake is to show that the sanctions to stop the purchase of Russian oil are formal, and Russian oil is irreplaceable. Russian propagandists are thus silent about the fact that the embargo on Russian oil and the price cap of $60 per barrel, which came into effect on December 5, has already brought bad news for Russia and showed positive results for Ukraine and the global economy.

Russian propagandists spread such messages to the Western audience. Allegedly, if Russia is forced to sell oil cheaply, this will put pressure on other suppliers from the markets to sell oil to Europe also cheaper. Like, Western countries will continue to thrive on cheap oil, even if it is not from Russia. However, this is not true.

According to the analysts of the EU vs Disinfo project, this thesis contradicts another narrative that was previously spread by propagandists that supposedly limiting oil prices would destroy Europe.

The purpose of the restriction is not to benefit Europe. The price limit for Russian oil was set as an additional sanction for Russia's illegal aggression against Ukraine. Price restrictions were initiated by the G7 countries and supported by the European Union.

The Council of the EU said in a statement: “Limiting the price of Russian oil will limit the price spikes caused by emergency market conditions and will sharply reduce the revenues that Russia received from the sale of oil after it resolved its illegal war of aggression against Ukraine. This will also contribute to the stabilization of world energy prices and mitigation of negative consequences for the energy supply of third countries”.