Facing fuel shortages amid Ukrainian drone strikes, Russia may bring back a low-grade gasoline it banned in 2013

Russia may allow the production and sale of gasoline and diesel fuel with environmental standards lowered as far as “Euro 2” for one year through July 2027, the Russian business daily Kommersant reported, citing a draft decree it had reviewed.

The authorities may also permit the import of gasoline meeting those specifications. The imported fuel would be exempt from the technical regulations of the Eurasian Economic Union.

The sale of Euro 2 fuel has been prohibited in Russia since 2013.

The main difference between fuel grades lies in their sulfur content and production complexity, said Dmitry Prokofiev, director of communications at NEFT Research.

Euro 2 fuel can be made from naphtha without deep refining, Prokofiev said. It lets refineries that can’t make higher-quality fuel keep operating, and simplifies the production process, adding hundreds of thousands of metric tons of gasoline per month to the market.

Still, such a measure is unlikely to offset the full volume of fuel lost to attacks on oil refineries, and for many modern vehicles, using Euro 2 fuel could be unsafe, Prokofiev said.

The measure is being prepared in response to a nationwide fuel crisis — one that worsened in May 2026 amid Ukrainian drone strikes on oil-industry facilities across Russia.

This is the second attempt to address the fuel shortage by lowering standards. In the fall of 2025, the government allowed some refineries to produce gasoline and diesel meeting Euro 3 standards for the domestic market. According to an industry source who spoke to Kommersant, easing the gasoline requirements likely wasn’t enough.