Russia has tightened gasoline rationing this week to St. Petersburg, Belgorod, Kursk, and the occupied parts of Luhansk Oblast—the sharpest single-week escalation of a fuel crisis that has been spreading across Russian regions since Ukrainian drones knocked out roughly 40% of Moscow's primary refining capacity by late May.
In St. Petersburg, the Fontanka outlet reported that Kirishiavtoservis—the filling-station network of the Kinef refinery in neighboring Leningrad Oblast—has imposed a 50-litre per-receipt cap. Some Rosneft stations are limiting customers to 95 litres at a time—roughly the tank capacity of a large SUV, suggesting the cap targets motorists filling jerry cans alongside their tanks. "The situation is hardest with AI-95," a manager at one major oil terminal outside the city told the publication, referring to the higher-octane gasoline grade.
In the occupied parts of Luhansk Oblast, the Russian-installed administration introduced a 20-litre per-customer cap on 2 June, mirroring restrictions already in force across annexed Crimea and Sevastopol. Belgorod and Kursk Oblasts have limited canister sales at Rosneft stations, Meduza reported, citing the Telegram channel Pepel. Rationing has also reached the Moscow region: gas stations in Novaya Moskva have capped fills at 60 litres of gasoline and 100 litres of diesel per customer since 30 May, the OPK network told MSK1.RU.
Crimea: kilometer-long queues and a shadow market
In Crimea, where the crisis began, queues now stretch up to three kilometers, according to footage circulated by residents themselves. AI-95 is sold only on coupons; AI-92 is capped at 20 litres per car, with jerry-can filling banned. Prices climb in real time. "We were standing 52 minutes at the station to try to get our portion. The price for AI-95 was 83.90, then bang—84.90, going up like a clock," one driver told camera crews.
A shadow market has emerged: private cars are allowed to bring 100 litres each onto the peninsula, with middlemen reselling on the roadside. Residents have also reported neighbours siphoning gasoline from parked cars.
38 strikes on Russian refineries since January
Ukrainian drones have hit Russian refineries 38 times since the start of 2026, with 16 of those in May alone and 8 of the country's 10 largest plants taking damage, The Moscow Times reported. Refining in central Russia has "largely ground to a halt," Reuters reported on 20 May, citing official data and industry sources. The Kinef plant was hit in late March and again in early May, after which it fully stopped production. The Slavneft-YANOS refinery in Yaroslavl was struck twice in May, with additional drone attacks targeting other Yaroslavl-area oil infrastructure.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had hit 15 Russian refineries since January, taking nearly 40% of the country's primary refining capacity offline as of May. "For a country that was not so long ago described as a gas station, losing even this is a major story and a major loss," he said.
Moscow's response: export bans and Belarus imports
Russia's gasoline export ban, in place since late July 2025 and extended multiple times since, currently runs through 31 July. The Kremlin also capped aviation fuel exports starting 1 June and has ramped up gasoline imports from Belarus—from 45,000 tons in September 2025 to a target of 300,000 tons per month under proposals advanced by Deputy PM Alexander Novak, citing Kommersant. Government sources told Kommersant an export ban to Eurasian Economic Union partners is under discussion. Wholesale prices on the Russian exchange have risen more than 20% since January, with retail outpacing inflation.
"We currently see acute shortages only in Crimea. In the rest of Russia, stocks remain but current supply is short. If the situation does not stabilize, the deficit will spread by late July or early August," one trader told Kommersant.
The crisis lands on top of a federal budget that contains Russia's first nominal cut to the "national defense" line since the start of the full-scale invasion. The Finance Ministry has reduced the line from 13.5 trillion to 12.6 trillion roubles for 2026—a real-terms reduction once roughly 4–5% inflation is factored in. SIPRI's broader measure of total military spending, which includes national security and other items, shows a similar trajectory: roughly 16 trillion roubles in 2025 dropping to 14.9 trillion in the 2026 plan, or 6.3% of GDP. Zelenskyy has linked the squeeze on the budget to the cumulative pressure of Ukrainian long-range strikes on Russian oil infrastructure, alongside falling export revenue.
