The Khamovniki District Court of Moscow, at the request of the prosecutor's office, ordered «Yandex» to remove from the «Yandex Maps» service images of the plant belonging to the Ryazan Oil Refining Company (RNPK), part of «Rosneft». The decision was found on the Moscow courts' website by «Mediazona»*.
The prosecutor's office indicated that the plant at the Southern Industrial Node, 8 in Ryazan is included in the register of enterprises of the Russian defense-industrial complex and «operates in an uninterrupted mode, meeting the needs of the Russian army and navy», participating in the war in Ukraine.
Meanwhile, «Yandex Maps» has satellite images of the plant and «directly marked» workshops, areas with tanks, and other «structural elements» of RNPK.
The enterprise has been repeatedly attacked by Ukrainian drones, according to the prosecutor's office, refinery employees were injured, and infrastructure was destroyed.
The company was offered to remove the information voluntarily, but it did not do so.
As stated in the court's decision, access to RNPK images makes the enterprise «maximally vulnerable to enemy forces' means of destruction». In addition, this «undermines the state's defense capability» and «negatively affects the timely supply of materials» to the Russian Armed Forces.
As a result, the court sided with the prosecutor's office and ordered «Yandex» within a month from the date the decision comes into force to «exclude informational access» to RNPK infrastructure.
* Recognized in Russia as a «foreign agent».