Russian court orders search engine Yandex to block access to refinery locations and photos over Ukrainian drone attacks

A court has ordered Yandex, Russia's 'Google,' to block access to maps containing locations and photos of oil refineries, in response to Ukraine's repeated drone attacks on refineries.

Суд в РФ обязал 'Яндекс' закрыть доступ к фото и картам НПЗ

Russia orders Yandex to scrub maps and images of strategic oil refinery | The Record from Recorded Future News
https://therecord.media/yandex-refinery-russia-censor-images

Russian Court Orders Yandex To Remove Oil Refinery Maps Over Drone Strike Concerns
https://dronexl.co/2025/01/03/russian-court-yandex-oil-refinery-drone-strike-concerns/

The order was issued by Moscow's Khamovnichesky District Court. Independent news agency Mediasona reports that the target refinery is the Ryazan refinery in southeast Moscow, which has been the target of four drone attacks by Ukraine, damaging the plant's infrastructure and employees.
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Ryazan as seen on Yandex maps. There are already some blurred areas, but these are not oil refineries but airbases.

On Google Maps, you can see the parked aircraft without any mosaics.


Yandex declined to comment on the court's order, which is not legally binding and which Yandex could appeal.