Financial Times: fuel crisis directly affects more than a third of Russians
Russia’s fuel crisis is directly affecting about 50 million people — roughly 35% of the country’s population — the Financial Times reported, based on its own analysis of driver numbers by region.
The crisis is the worst since the late Soviet era, the outlet said. Ukrainian drone strikes have knocked out between 20 and 40% of Russian refinery capacity, by various estimates.
Borys Dodonov, head of energy research at the Kyiv School of Economics, told the FT that Russia processed an average of 4.1 million barrels of oil per day in June — down 28% from the five-year average and 35% below design capacity.
“The crisis is real. People feel it,” said Sergey Vakulenko, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin. “But it is yet to have a widespread economic impact.”
Russia’s fuel crisis has deepened as Ukrainian drone strikes on oil facilities across the regions have intensified. Every one of the country’s largest refineries has come under attack.
As gasoline shortages spread, authorities have introduced a range of fuel sale restrictions. Since the beginning of July, six regions have switched or are preparing to switch to a license-plate rationing system: on even-numbered days, vehicles whose plates begin (or end) with an even digit may fill up; on odd-numbered days, those with odd digits.
Authorities hope the measure will cut the lines at gas stations, where residents have been forced to wait for hours or even days.
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