On August 21, the Financial Times reported that Poland had refused to supply oil to the German refinery, intended to compensate for Russian oil imports via the Druzhba pipeline, due to the fact that the plant's main owner was Russian energy giant Rosneft.
"This is another argument in a piggy bank [of evidences] that Warsaw does not intend to play any game, even according to its own rules that were declared. Warsaw has interests that have nothing to do with mutual respect, mutually beneficial partnership with Ukraine," Zakharova said, adding that Poland was driven by "the desire to play the geopolitical card now, while completely forgetting all European promises and oaths of European solidarity."
According to the spokeswoman, Warsaw does not consider the needs and interests of its neighbors and partners in the European Union, but prefers taking advantage of the situation for personal gain.
Poland has long demanded that Russia's presence in all German oil-related elements be reduced to zero due to ongoing Russian military operation in Ukraine. In June, Polish Minister of Climate and Environment Anna Moskwa pledged to cooperate with Berlin on oil supplies, provided that Moscow was excluded from the country's refining industry, in particular from the refinery site in Schwedt. In mid-July, Jorg Kukies, the state secretary in the German chancellery, announced Berlin's plans to stop buying Russian oil by December 31.
Germany's Schwedt refinery site is located near the Polish border. The facility is of regional importance for East Germany and Berlin, given that it has been providing over 1,000 people with work, and consumers with gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene and other oil products.