Russia & Energy — 2026-07-05

Russia Rations Fuel by QR Code Lottery as Ukrainian Drone Strikes Leave 55 Regions With Severe Shortages

BLUFRegional fuel rationing across more than 55 Russian subjects will likely force federal intervention by September, accelerating economic strain that compounds Ukraine's kinetic pressure on Russian energy infrastructure.

More than 55 of Russia's 83 regions and federally designated cities are reporting government-imposed fuel restrictions or supply shortages, according to RFE/RL's Siberia.Realities 1. Regional governors have responded with rationing measures: Samara capped sales at 40 liters of gasoline and 100 liters of diesel per car and suspended canister sales, Irkutsk governor Igor Kobzev shifted to individually determined "manual mode" allocations and declared heightened readiness on June 28, and occupied Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozhaev told a June 30 government session the city cut operating kindergartens from 74 to 24 over fuel and electricity constraints 2. RFE/RL reported residents describing ambulance and firefighting services disrupted by fuel shortages in Zabaikalye, Khabarovsk, and Irkutsk, including one account of a diabetic patient's ambulance call redirected because the vehicle lacked fuel 1. Sberbank CEO German Gref told Russia's Financial Congress his credit committee had become "a committee on problem assets" amid rising corporate debt restructuring, and the Bank of Russia's April data placed problem corporate loans at 11.2 trillion rubles, or 11.6% of the corporate portfolio 2.

Analysis
Federal rationing will likely formalize before September, since regional patchworks covering more than 55 subjects have already exhausted governors' independent tools and pushed the crisis into Putin's own public messaging. High confidence follows from convergent indicators: Kobzev's Moscow briefing to Novak, Mishustin's Euro-3 downgrade decree, and Sberbank's corporate-loan distress signal all point toward centralized intervention rather than continued regional improvisation. The Kremlin will likely prioritize diesel and military-adjacent allocation over consumer gasoline, deepening rationing in peripheral regions like Zabaikalye and Sevastopol before any Moscow-visible relief.

3 sources

'It's The Only Thing They're Talking About': Far From Ukraine War, Russia Fuel Crisis Consumes Local Worries - RFE/RL (Siberia.Realities)
The energy superpower now rations fuel by QR code lottery - Euromaidan Press
The crisis is deep: The view from Russia as fuel shortages worsen - Al Jazeera