According to Transneft President Nikolay Tokarev, the Czech Republic and Slovakia have appealed to Brussels to keep the inventories of Russian oil since they are unable to operate without it. He added that although the Czech Republic may be able to obtain small amounts of oil from Europe via an oil pipeline, those nations would be unable to function without Russian oil. In 2023, Russia exported 70 million tons of energy to India, and up to 100 million tons to China.

Two more European nations—the Czech Republic and Slovakia—are searching for additional Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline. Tokarev had earlier disclosed that Transneft has received demands from Germany and Poland to release oil through the Druzhba pipeline in spite of declarations that they will decline supplies, throughout the upcoming year.

Three million tons of oil were shipped by Orlen, the biggest refiner in Poland, to the Russian oil and gas transportation firm via the Druzhba pipeline.