Kremlin admits Russia is holding talks on fuel imports amid shortages
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A line of cars at a gas station in Rostov-on-Don (Photo: REUTERS/Sergey Pivovarov)
Russia is in talks with other countries about the possible import of petroleum products, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on June 30, according to Russian state-aligned media.
Moscow is allegedly prepared to buy fuel from abroad if acceptable prices can be agreed.
He did not specify which countries Russia is negotiating with.
“Contacts are being established,” he said. “If agreements are reached on acceptable prices, then this will happen. It will be another step toward stabilizing the market, aimed at curbing this surge in demand.”
Earlier, Reuters reported that Russia had asked Kazakhstan to supply about 50,000 tons of AI-92 gasoline.
Fuel crisis in Russia
According to Russian propaganda outlet RBC, as of June 29 official restrictions on fuel sales had already been introduced in more than 40 Russian regions, as well as in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Complaints about shortages, however, were coming from 85 regions.
On June 28, Russian President Vladimir Putin publicly acknowledged for the first time that gasoline problems had emerged in Russia after Ukrainian drone strikes on oil refineries. He said the ban on gasoline exports had been introduced “in the interests of domestic consumers.”
Reuters has reported that strikes by Ukraine’s armed forces caused an acute shortage and a 25% collapse in Russia’s domestic gasoline production.
On June 1, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian strikes had hit 15 Russian oil refineries since the start of the year and that, as of May, nearly 40% of Russia’s primary oil refining capacity had been taken offline.
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