A third Russian region declares high alert over fuel crisis — a status that allows elections to be postponed

Penza Governor Oleg Melnichenko declared a state of high alert in the region on June 30, citing the fuel crisis. Melnichenko said the measure was needed to keep emergency response services and socially significant facilities — including the fuel and energy sector — running without interruption.

The Penza region has capped fuel purchases since June 23, limiting drivers to no more than 100 liters of gasoline and no more than 200 liters of diesel per vehicle. Restrictions elsewhere in Russia are tighter; many regions have set the gasoline limit at 30 liters per vehicle.

Penza is the third Russian region to declare a heightened alert over the fuel crisis, following Zabaykalsky Krai and the Irkutsk region.

Zabaykalsky Krai has enforced a 15-liter-per-vehicle gasoline cap since June 25, one of the strictest limits in the country. In the Irkutsk region, Rosneft gas stations have restricted vehicles to 50 liters of gasoline since June 28; other filling stations may impose an even lower cap.

A heightened alert, among other things, allows for the postponement of voting in elections (Article 10.1 of the law “On Basic Guarantees of Electoral Rights and the Right to Participate in a Referendum of Citizens of the Russian Federation”).

Meduza’s sources said security officials want to persuade Vladimir Putin to postpone elections to the State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, scheduled for September. According to sources close to Russia’s Presidential Administration, the FSB leadership and the head of the Russian National Guard are lobbying for the postponement.

Civilian officials from the political and information bloc of Russia’s Presidential Administration, however, favor holding the elections on schedule, Meduza’s sources said — and Putin himself said at the congress of United Russia that the elections would take place on the scheduled date.