"The Situation Is Critical": Altai Faces The Risk Of A Shutdown In Agriculture And Public Utilities

• 14.07.2026, 11:13

A Russian region has run out of fuel.

In Russia’s Altai Krai, Siberia’s largest agricultural producer, an “extremely tense” situation has arisen in the agriculture and housing and utilities sectors due to a fuel shortage. This concerns the Burlin District, which borders Kazakhstan; its authorities have asked the regional government to declare a state of emergency due to the shortage. On July 10, district authorities held a meeting on the fuel situation, during which it became clear that there is an acute fuel crisis; currently, only the police, firefighters, hospitals, and energy workers, according to The Moscow Times.

“The situation in the housingand agriculture is assessed as extremely tense. In these sectors, there is a high risk of current operations coming to a halt due to a fuel shortage,” the district administration stated. According to officials, the district’s only two private gas stations “have not been operating for several weeks,” and people are “forced to make do as best they can” and buy fuel in other cities, waiting in lines for 5–6 hours. On July 13, regional authorities reported that they are trying to reach an agreement with the government and the Russian Ministry of Agriculture to provide agricultural enterprises with fuel for harvest operations.

Earlier, Maria Prusakova, a State Duma deputy from the Altai Krai, had reported on problems with fuel supplies to Altai farmers amid the acute fuel crisis affecting all of Russia and the occupied regions of Ukraine. She warned that the shortage of diesel fuel, the refusal to sell it to farmers in jerry cans, and the sharp rise in prices for this commodity “could lead to a food crisis.” “People don’t know how to harvest hay, and the crop may be left in the fields… the harvest campaign in agricultural regions is effectively under threat today,” the lawmaker stated.

At the same time, Altai farmers are complaining about the drought in the region and warning that some of the planted fields will most likely “have to be written off.” Yields for the remaining crops are projected to fall by 30–50%. By the end of 2025, farmers in the Altai Krai had produced goods worth 318.4 billion rubles. This represents 28.8% of the total agricultural output of the Siberian Federal District.

Previously, local deputy Stepan Frantenko had warned of the risk of “a complete shutdown of all agriculture in the Irkutsk Region” due to a lack of fuel. Farmers in the southern regions of Russia, the Central Black Earth Region, and the Volga Region also complained about the crisis.

The crisis was caused by Ukraine’s campaign to cripple Russian oil refining. According to Reuters, gasoline production in Russia last week plummeted to 65% of summer consumption levels, while diesel output fell by nearly 40%.