The Main Intelligence Directorate warned of the risk of sabotage by Russia to keep oil prices up

Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine warned the possible intensification of Russian special services' activities in carrying out sabotage on energy facilities in foreign countries in order to artificially maintain high oil prices. According to the Main Intelligence Directorate, evidence of this is the "guaranteed" oil price fixed in a series of intergovernmental agreements between Russia and Vietnam.

The aggressor state continues to build a network of international partnerships that are intended to help the regime avoid sanctions pressure and provide funding for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The latest element of this strategy was a series of intergovernmental agreements between Moscow and Hanoi, approved by the Russian government in May of this year.

The agreements cover joint oil and gas production in Russian territory and on the Vietnamese shelf with the participation of Zarubezhneft, Petrovietnam, and the joint venture Vietsovpetro. Vietnamese and Russian entities will receive additional licenses for the development of new subsoil plots in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug and the extension of existing licenses until 2050.

A key element of the scheme is the right to establish subsidiaries in third countries. This opens up the possibility of exporting Russian oil under the guise of Vietnamese products and concealing the true origin of energy resources.

It is particularly telling that the Russian-Vietnamese agreement sets the minimum oil sale price at no less than $75 per barrel – significantly higher than the price cap of $47.6 per barrel imposed by the EU in July 2025.

In parallel with energy cooperation, Russia is strengthening its presence in Vietnam in other areas. In particular, this includes the creation of a "Russian language center" and the implementation of an agreement on controlling the use of Soviet and Russian-made portable anti-aircraft missile systems previously supplied to Vietnam.

"Given the Kremlin's attempts to fix a 'guaranteed' oil price in the long term, it is highly likely that Russian special services will intensify operations to interfere with international energy chains – in particular, they will carry out sabotage at infrastructure facilities of foreign states," the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense noted.

• In August, it became known that Russia exported oil to Vietnam for the first time, expanding sales markets for petrochemical raw materials amid Western sanctions pressure.