How does a gasoline crisis vanish overnight? Ask the people of Nizhny Novgorod about the day Putin came to town.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Nizhny Novgorod on August 28.
On the day Putin arrived, authorities banned vessel traffic on the Volga and Oka rivers and barred stopping on several streets in the city.
Journalists from the news outlet NewsNN drove around the city and confirmed that gasoline was available at most gas stations, though lines had formed in some places and selection remained limited at a few.
Just a week earlier, at the height of the second wave of the fuel crisis, many gas stations in Nizhny Novgorod had run out of gasoline, while long lines formed at others.
During Putin’s previous regional trip, gasoline prices in Krasnoyarsk swung sharply: prices at some stations in the regional network dropped by 24 rubles the day before his visit, then returned to their earlier level after he left.
Putin is expected to speak in Nizhny Novgorod at the “Strong Ideas for a New Time” forum, which was moved from August 24–25 to August 27–28 to accommodate him.
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