Russia’s ongoing fuel crisis, sparked by Ukrainian drone strikes against oil refining infrastructure, has already driven up prices for public transportation, taxis, freight shipments, and air travel. Economists Maksim Blant and Ruben Enikolopov, a professor at the Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, told The Insider that inflation in Russia is poised to rise at an even faster rate and that gasoline prices are likely to remain high for a long time.
According to official data from Rosstat, Russia’s state statistics agency, average gasoline prices across the country rose 3% in the week of June 16-22 — the largest weekly jump in the past 20 years. From June 23 to 29, Rosstat announced, gasoline prices in Russia rose another 1.6%, while diesel fuel rose 2.2%.
The independent outlet Vot Tak reported that the cost of freight deliveries to Russian-occupied Crimea had risen by a factor of between three and six.
Economist Maxim Blant said gasoline itself was the first thing to rise in price.
“At the price recorded by Rosstat, you cannot actually fill your tank,” Blant said. “That is the price posted at a gas station, even if there is no gasoline there. [Finance Minister Anton] Siluanov was asked about rising gasoline prices, and he said only independent gas stations were raising prices, while chains owned by vertically integrated holdings were keeping prices steady. But at such chains — Gazprom Neft, Lukoil, Rosneft, and so on — there is either no gasoline, or only a limited amount per vehicle. They also do not fill canisters.
