Russia’s Fuel Shortages Strike Russians at Home
Mamie Powers
Executive Summary:
Russia is experiencing more fuel shortages as Ukraine focuses strikes on Russian oil refineries in Moscow and is able to reach targets nearly 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) inside Russia.
Officials in Russia are beginning discussions with other countries, including India, about importing oil and claim that the fuel shortages at gas stations are due to Ukrainian strikes, which have led to excessive demand and caused logistical problems.
Russians are expressing a range of reactions to the fuel shortages. Many are frustrated with the long lines and rationing at gas stations, while others are relatively ambivalent about the issues as long as other aspects of their lives remain normal.
Russia is experiencing a fuel crisis. Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refineries continue, bringing the war into Russian territory with drones. Ukrainian drones are traveling farther into Russia’s regions, reaching as far as Omsk oblast, nearly 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) from the Ukrainian border (Telegram/@GeneralStaffZSU, July 6). Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated on June 6 that Siberia is now within reach of Ukrainian “precision” and emphasized the effect these strikes have on Russia’s oil economy (President of Ukraine, July 6). Russian regions in Siberia, such as Novosibirsk oblast, have begun issuing drone warnings to their citizens (Telegram/@Govorit_NeMoskva, July 6; The Moscow Times, July 9). Ukraine’s drone strikes on Russian oil infrastructure have been estimated to have damaged 20 percent to 40 percent of Russia’s oil refining capacity (RBC-Ukraine, July 9). These strikes are causing fuel shortages across Russia, and Russians are starting to feel real effects on their everyday lives from the war.
Russia is reportedly considering importing gas from India and is in talks with other “friendly” oil-producing countries about importing their gas (Izvestiya, June 30; Kommersant, July 6). Indian Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri stated that Indian companies are not directly selling oil to Russia, but Indian oil is possibly being sold to Russia via “traders” (The Economic Times, July 2). Even pro-Kremlin outlets are reporting on these developments (Topwar.ru, July 1). In a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and government officials, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak stated that Russia would begin importing petroleum and that the government has worked with Russian Railways on possibly providing discounted railway tariffs to “ensure economic conditions for imported fuel” (President of Russia, July 8).
Gas is being rationed across the country, with regions imposing limits on the amount of gas that people can purchase at one time and restricting the purchase of gas to vehicles and not containers (Meduza, July 9). At the end of June, The Moscow Times reported that fuel rationing measures were in place in at least 56 of Russia’s 89 regions (The Moscow Times, June 25). Dagestan imposed restrictions allowing the purchase of only 20 liters (5.28 gallons) of gasoline and 50 liters (13.2 gallons) of diesel at a time (Kommersant, June 25). In the Altai Republic, the government has introduced a “Fuel Dispensing Control” system to monitor gasoline rationing, for which drivers have to show vehicle registration cards at local gas stations, in an effort to curb panic buying and surging demand (Telegram/@turchak_andrey; The Moscow Times, July 8). Some regions, such as Oryol, Lipetsk, and Nizhny Novgorod oblasts, are starting to assign dates for people to purchase gas based on their license plate numbers (Meduza, July 8). Analysis from the Telegram channel Mozhem Obyasnit reports that not one gas station in six Russian regions—Kabardino-Balkaria, Ingushetia, Chechnya, Dagestan, Magadan oblast, and Chukotka—had gasoline available for people to purchase (Telegram/@mozhemobyasnit; RBC-Ukraine, July 9).
Russian officials state that the shortages are caused by “excessive demand” rather than a true issue with the oil supply (Izvestiya, July 2). Officials also report that Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries are causing logistical problems in transporting enough oil to meet demand, again shifting the blame away from a genuine supply shortage (Izvestiya, June 30). The supply chain disruptions caused by Ukrainian strikes have made the transport of oil across Russia difficult, leading to less gasoline arriving at gas stations in the regions.
There has been a range of reactions from the Russian people about the gas crisis. Many in Russia are visibly frustrated—people are waiting hours, sometimes even all day, in lines at gas stations. One man reported waiting 39 hours in the Russian city of Chita in Siberia for gas. When he arrived at the station, he had to enter a line of cars 2.8 kilometers (1.7 miles) away (Meduza, July 3). Satellite images have found a line for gas in Zabaykalsky krai that was 4.5 kilometers (2.8 miles) long (Telegram/@bbcrussian; RBC-Ukraine, July 3). The gas crisis is hitting those who live in Russia’s poorest regions harder. The rising cost of gas means that the cost of goods is also rising, as the vehicles that bring those goods to the regions also require gas at high prices (The Moscow Times, June 25). Even in the wealthier regions, people are expressing outrage, with one man from the Khanty-Mansi autonomous okrug stating, “This is some kind of bulls***, I think, as a Russian citizen. We are filled to our ears with oil, wells are being stopped, there is nowhere to put the oil, but there is no gasoline” (Telegram/@Govorit_NeMoskva, June 24). Recent data supports this sentiment. While crude oil export volumes rose by 14 percent in June, oil product exports plummeted to record lows, reflecting the loss in refining capacity (Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, July 10). Russia’s overall export revenues, however, have remained more or less unchanged, making this a crisis of domestic morale rather than trade.
Not all reactions to the gas shortages have been of overt frustration. Memes making light of the dismal situation have become widely spread on social media (The Moscow Times, July 3). Some memes even indicate ambivalence to the shortage and the war, emphasizing that if other aspects of daily life remain normal, such as access to alcohol, then all is fine. One commenter on Reddit responded to a post curious about what Russians think about the fuel shortages, writing, “Muscovite here. No gas. No diesel. No internet. Lots of vodka though. Cheers” (Reddit/r/AskARussian, June 25). [1] The indifference to how these issues affect Russians is not unusual. Many Russians are, as one anonymous writer in Russia put it, “accustomed to chugging along through economic difficulties in modern history” (The Moscow Times, June 29). For many Russians, the fuel crisis is the first effect of the war, severely impacting day-to-day life. The current mood of the Russian populace—both indifference and anger—will shape future reactions to the Kremlin’s actions.
Note:
[1] Reddit is an anonymized social media platform, and although it can be useful for seeing everyday people’s unfiltered thoughts, we must acknowledge that it is not an authoritative source.
This article was originally published in Eurasia Daily Monitor.
Mamie Powers is the Managing Editor of Eurasia Daily Monitor at The Jamestown Foundation. She graduated from Bryn Mawr College with a degree in Russian and Mathematics and participated in the Department of Defense’s Russian Language Flagship program in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where she attended al-Farabi Kazakh National University. In Almaty, she supported the children's science journal Oyla as an editorial and translation assistant. Alongside her work as Managing Editor, she is completing her MA in Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. She is proficient in Russian and conversational in Turkish.