Regional Telegram channels and local media outlets reported that several chats in the Max messenger were blocked after Russian residents used them to discuss gasoline shortages, prices, and places where fuel could still be bought. Mediazona found reports of at least five such cases.
On June 24, the channel Ivanovo Region wrote about a chat in Max where users shared information about fuel problems as well as sale locations and prices. By evening, the group had around 8,000 members, after which it was blocked. The same channel later said access had been restored and published a screenshot listing code words for different types of fuel: for example, AI-92 was to be called “gold,” AI-95 “platinum,” and gasoline “water.”
“Now participants have to speak in code so that the Max messenger’s algorithms do not block the resource again,” the post’s author said.
The Vladimir Telegram channel Chesnok reported two more local chats created to discuss the fuel situation. According to the outlet Zebra, the first was called “Benzin 33” and had nearly 15,000 members. Journalists said it was blocked for a formal reason: once a resource reaches 10,000 subscribers, it must be registered in a special Roskomnadzor registry, which had not been done.
After that, Chesnok said, a second Vladimir chat was created, but it also quickly became unavailable. The Telegram channel Incident Krasnokamensk reported a similar case, saying that an analogous gasoline chat in Max had been deleted without explanation. According to the same accounts, the same thing happened to a chat used by residents of Chita.
Earlier, the Federal Antimonopoly Service banned fuel sale listings on Avito, Ozon, and Wildberries. The agency said the move was needed to combat what it called the “speculative resale of gasoline and diesel” amid rising prices and market disruptions. These developments are unfolding during a fuel crisis that has continued in Russia since mid-June after a series of Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries. As Business Online reported, by June 25 gasoline sales restrictions were in place in at least 30 regions, with authorities everywhere citing heightened demand.