For more than a month, Russia has been facing an acute fuel crisis that, according to open-source reporting, has spread across nearly the entire country. After Ukrainian army strikes on oil refineries, oil processing volumes fell to multi-year lows, and gasoline began disappearing from filling stations.
The Kremlin initially denied any risk of shortages. Dmitry Peskov said drone attacks would not cause a fuel deficit. But the problem quickly moved beyond the wholesale market: shortages were reported at retail stations in the Ryazan region, while vouchers for gasoline were introduced across annexed Crimea. They ran out the very next day, after which fuel began to be resold in private listings for 200 to 350 rubles per liter.
Restrictions then appeared in Moscow and the surrounding region, St. Petersburg, the Belgorod and Kursk regions, and in the annexed regions of Ukraine. In Sevastopol, QR codes distributed through the Max messenger were used to obtain fuel vouchers, but on June 10 officials failed to issue a new batch because fuel trucks had not arrived.
Amid the crisis, Russia for the first time banned exports of aviation kerosene, but this did not ease the pressure: at the end of June, Azimut Airlines reported a critical situation with jet fuel. At the same time, authorities allowed some refineries to supply the domestic market with gasoline and diesel formally labeled Euro-5 but meeting Euro-3 indicators.
After two strikes on the Moscow refinery in Kapotnya, a key supplier for Moscow and the surrounding region, both primary oil processing units were knocked out. Reuters sources said the plant would remain offline at least until the end of 2026. During the week of June 15 to June 21, Reuters reported, gasoline production in Russia fell by 25% compared with the average June level.
Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak described the situation as “difficult but under control,” later attributing the shortages to panic demand and saying that “rebalancing the market will take some time.”
According to The Insider, more than 40 regions officially announced fuel sales restrictions, while including unofficial bans and local measures, the crisis affected more than 80 regions. The impact has already reached public transport in at least eight regions: fares increased in some places, bus schedules were cut in others, and in parts of Zabaykalsky Krai garbage collection stopped because there was not enough fuel for refuse trucks.