Russia's foreign ministry said on Sunday that Ukrainian attacks on oil tankers and Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) infrastructure in the Black Sea were "acts of terrorism" that threaten freedom of navigation in the region.
The CPC, which includes Russian, Kazakh and US shareholders, said it had halted operations after a mooring at its Russian terminal on the Black Sea was significantly damaged by a Ukrainian naval drone attack.
Commenting on the attack, the ministry said the targeted facilities were civilian energy infrastructure that play an important role in ensuring global energy security and have never been subject to any international restrictions or limitations.
Kazakhstan also urged Ukraine to stop attacking CPC’s Black Sea terminal. "We view what has occurred as an action harming the bilateral relations of the Republic of Kazakhstan and Ukraine, and we expect the Ukrainian side to take effective measures to prevent similar incidents in the future,” the country’s foreign ministry said in a statement.
(Reporting by Reuters Writing by Maxim Rodionov; editing by Guy Faulconbridge)