Overview
- A sustained Ukrainian long‑range drone campaign has damaged multiple refineries, cutting Russia’s crude processing by roughly a quarter and leaving large parts of the refining system offline.
- The shortage has produced hours‑long queues, regional rationing and service disruptions such as suspended garbage collection and ambulances running out of fuel, reaching major cities including Moscow.
- The government issued a July 2 decree temporarily allowing lower‑quality Euro‑3 gasoline, banned gasoline and jet fuel exports, and set up national supply monitoring and fiscal measures to stabilise domestic deliveries.
- Moscow is sourcing refined product through international traders, with industry data showing at least 60,000 tonnes of gasoline shipped from India and multiple reports naming Nayara Energy as the producer while India says refiners are not selling directly.
- Repairing damaged plants will take months to years, which keeps Russia reliant on imports and trader routes, raises pollution risks from lower‑grade fuel, and threatens agricultural and transport operations during peak summer demand.