• The official line: ‘difficult but manageable’
• On the ground: rationing in the world’s oil heartland
• Digital crackdowns and capital-city exceptions
• The narrative gap

Widespread Fuel Shortages and Sales Restrictions Across Russia Russia is awash in oil — and short on gasoline. As lines grow and rationing spreads from Siberia to annexed Crimea, the Kremlin insists everything is “manageable,” even as it scrambles to rewrite the rules of its own fuel market.

§The official line: ‘difficult but manageable’

Publicly, Moscow projects control. The Kremlin’s spokesman says the government is “taking measures” on fuel prices and is in “close coordination with oil companies.” Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak has ordered a domestic “fuel market stability plan” and tasked the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) with constant monitoring and quick interventions.

At a specially convened government meeting on shortages, Novak called the domestic situation “difficult but manageable,” blaming “logistical issues” in certain regions rather than systemic failure. Vladimir Putin went further, insisting Ukrainian strikes on refineries “would have no effect” on the war’s outcome, even as he demanded measures to “minimize” their impact on supplies.

§On the ground: rationing in the world’s oil heartland

Regional leaders are telling a harsher story. In Khanty-Mansi — which produces roughly 40% of Russia’s oil — Governor Ruslan Kukharuk has imposed purchase caps of about 40 liters of gasoline and 80 liters of diesel per transaction to curb “speculation and resale,” while insisting reserves are “sufficient.” Similar limits and bans on filling canisters now stretch across Bryansk, Kursk, Kurgan, Irkutsk, Omsk, Novosibirsk, Saratov, and others, all justified as a fight against “artificial panic” and “artificial shortages.”

Meanwhile, Russia’s gasoline production has fallen about 25% in mid‑June compared with June 2025 averages after sustained Ukrainian drone attacks on refineries. One governor openly admits the country has been “forced to switch to manual management” of fuel allocations, prioritizing ambulances, fire services and farm machinery over ordinary drivers.

§Digital crackdowns and capital-city exceptions

FAS has leaned on major platforms Avito, Ozon and Wildberries to yank fuel listings and block gasoline-card sales “to prevent speculative resale.” Yet while online trading is squeezed, Moscow has quietly ripped up its own red tape: the capital has lifted permit requirements for fuel tankers, allowing round‑the‑clock entry “to ensure uninterrupted fuel supply.”

In Crimea, by contrast, gas stations have stopped selling fuel to the public entirely, with supplies reserved for “state services” and even rail passengers forced to pay for 200‑kilometer taxi rides after buses were canceled “due to lack of fuel.”

§The narrative gap

The Kremlin frames the crunch as a temporary logistics glitch and a test of wartime resilience. Independent and regional outlets depict a country where an oil superpower is rationing fuel, online resale is criminalized, and Russia’s richest oil region is counting liters at the pump. Between “difficult but manageable” and canceled buses in Crimea, the distance looks measured less in kilometers than in credibility.