Russia approves law to shield Caspian Sea oil rigs from drones

Russia’s upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, has officially approved a new law granting security forces the legal authority to shoot down hostile drones flying over oil and gas rigs in the Russian sector of the Caspian Sea.

The legislative move, reported by the Interfax news agency on Wednesday, comes as Moscow scrambles to shield its vital offshore energy infrastructure from escalating Ukrainian drone operations, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.

According to an official note published on the parliament's website, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) currently pose one of the most severe threats to Russia's economic security. Lawmakers emphasized that the new federal statute was necessary to "eliminate the legal vacuum" preventing immediate military responses around the rigs, while assuring the public that the defensive measures would not disrupt local commercial shipping or fishing industries.

The legal shift directly impacts major offshore extraction projects, most notably those owned by Lukoil, Russia's second-largest oil producer.

Lukoil operates two massive, highly strategic projects in the Caspian waters:

The Vladimir Filanovsky Field

The Yuri Korchagin Field

Both extraction hubs have faced repeat targeting by Ukrainian long-range drones. As Kiev intensifies its asymmetric aerial campaign against the Kremlin's energy sector, disabling these multi-billion-dollar maritime platforms has become a primary objective in its strategy to choke off Moscow's military funding and degrade its economic backbone.

News.Az 

By Aysel Mammadzada