Residents of Russian settlements where homes are heated with stoves are entering the winter season amid a sharp rise in firewood prices and supply shortages. In Terney, a settlement in Primorye with about 11,000 residents, most homes still rely on wood heating.
Local residents told the outlet Vetër that in 2024, 10 cubic meters of long, unsplit firewood cost around 23,000 rubles, while this year the price has climbed to 40,000–46,000 rubles. At the same time, they said the average local wage is about 30,000 rubles. Primorye Governor Oleg Kozhemyako had previously instructed officials to keep the price below 3,500 rubles per cubic meter.
“Not only are firewood prices sky-high, there is also a huge queue. We only managed to buy a small truckload a week ago for 10,000 rubles. It holds two and a half cubic meters, and that will not last a month,” a local resident identified as Svetlana said.
She said her family had spent two months trying to buy fuel. Other residents of Terney also confirmed both the price increase and the shortage. One resident, Ivan, linked the situation to problems with logging plots: suitable sites are now in hard-to-reach areas, there are no access roads, and heavy machinery is needed to haul the wood out. In his view, private sellers are therefore forced to raise prices.
Ivan also suggested that the market had been affected by the downturn of a timber-processing enterprise in nearby Plastun, which had previously operated at full capacity, including with foreign partners. Now, he said, local organizations have to travel 60 kilometers to buy firewood, and transport costs push prices up even further.
Authorities in various Russian regions subsidize purchases of firewood and coal, primarily for benefit recipients and families of people involved in the war. In Primorye, compensation can cover up to 50% of expenses. Experts say, however, that this does not solve the underlying problem: because of complex forestry rules, bureaucracy, and costly logistics, firewood is becoming less affordable even as Russia continues to export timber. According to the environmental project Earth Touches Everyone, Russia exported 19.9 million cubic meters of timber in 2024.