Russia has removed Kazakh crude oil from its May delivery schedule through the Druzhba pipeline, directly threatening supplies to Germany’s PCK Schwedt refinery — a facility located 100 kilometres from Berlin that provides approximately 90 percent of fuel to the German capital and its northeastern region. Moscow cited reduced technical capacity following Ukrainian drone strikes on Russian infrastructure, but geopolitical analysts have characterised the move as deliberate economic retaliation against Berlin, Europe’s largest supplier of military aid to Ukraine. The cutoff also serves as a stark warning to Kazakhstan, which has been positioning itself as an alternative energy corridor for Europe, reinforcing Russia’s grip over Central Asian transit infrastructure. Poland’s pipeline operator PERN has indicated readiness to reroute supplies via the port of Gdańsk, though logistical transitions require significant lead time. The situation is further complicated by the fact that Russia’s state energy giant Rosneft retains a 54 percent ownership stake in PCK Schwedt, despite the German government placing the refinery under state trusteeship in 2023. The development marks a significant escalation in Russia’s use of energy supply as a geopolitical instrument and poses an immediate test for Chancellor Friedrich Merz and European energy security policy.