MOSCOW - The Russian parliament on Tuesday voted to give the country's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer Novatek the right to establish its own security guard to protect its facilities.

Novatek joins energy companies such as Gazprom and Rosneft, as well as oil pipeline monopoly Transneft, in receiving rights to set up their own security forces to safeguard infrastructure.

Novatek's Ust-Luga gas processing complex and a Baltic Sea terminal were attacked by Ukrainian drones in January.

Russia plans to defend oil and gas facilities with missile systems after Ukraine stepped up attacks on Russian oil infrastructure since the start of the year, hitting numerous large oil refineries in an attempt to cripple Moscow's military and curb its army's advances. REUTERS