People have begun to be arrested and fined following complaints about petrol shortages in Russia
The fuel crisis in Russia has taken on a new dimension: following attacks on oil refineries, there is now a shortage of petrol in at least ten regions, and those who attempt to speak out publicly about the shortage and unequal access to fuel have begun to face reprisals.
According to Censor.NET, The Moscow Times reports this, citing Russian regional media and data from Reuters.
They lodged a complaint with Bastrykin – and ended up at the police station
A telling incident took place in Volgograd. Five local residents recorded a video appeal to Alexander Bastrykin, head of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, regarding the petrol situation.
People have complained that there are restrictions in place at petrol stations for ordinary motorists, whilst, according to them, city council officials are able to fill up their tanks using fuel cards.
However, rather than verifying the facts set out in the complaint, the police identified irregularities in the video recording itself. They classified the gathering of five people as an "unauthorised public event" and detained those present.
One of them – the lawyer Alexei Sevastyanov – was detained for five days on charges of resisting the police. Another participant was fined 10,000 roubles for taking part in a mass demonstration.
A similar incident took place in Perm. A local resident, Lev Samolovskikh, wanted to hold a rally to publicly highlight the shortage of motor fuel. He informed the city administration of his intention and posted about the planned protest on a Telegram channel that had just 44 subscribers. As a result, the man was charged with "illegal campaigning" and fined 10,000 roubles.
Following the attacks on oil refineries, oil refining has fallen to its lowest level in over 20 years
Fuel shortages have worsened following a series of Ukrainian strikes on Russian oil refining infrastructure. According to estimates by S&P Global, at least 26 facilities in Russia were forced to shut down, with seven of them failing to resume production by the end of July. In August, a further four refineries were shut down.
As a result, oil refining volumes in the Russian Federation fell to 3.6 million barrels per day – the lowest level since May 2002. By early August, they had recovered to just over 4 million barrels, although, according to Rystad Energy’s estimates, this is approximately 30 per cent below the seasonal average.
Following a brief improvement at the end of July, the shortage returned in August. According to Reuters, restrictions at petrol stations were reintroduced in at least ten Russian regions, and fuel shortages even affected the Moscow region.
Against this backdrop, the Russian authorities began diverting additional supplies of petrol to Moscow from other parts of the country, giving the capital priority in terms of supply.
The situation may get even worse in early September. One of the Belarusian oil refineries from which Russia obtains fuel is due to undergo scheduled maintenance. Maintenance shutdowns are also expected at several large Russian plants.
