Kazakhstan Has Restricted The Entry Of Vehicles From Russia
- 8.07.2026, 19:27
Due to the massive influx of Russians coming to buy gasoline.
Kazakhstani authorities have limited the entry of freight and passenger vehicles from neighboring countries to once per day to combat the illegal export of fuel, Deputy Energy Minister Kayyrkhan Tutkyishbaev said. He noted a sharp increase in demand for gasoline in the regions bordering Russia—West Kazakhstan, Aktobe, and Pavlodar regions. Lines have begun to form at local gas stations. According to Tutkyishbaev, in addition, efforts are underway at the border to identify vehicles with auxiliary fuel tanks.
Amid the fuel crisis in Russia, residents of regions bordering Kazakhstan—Astrakhan, Volgograd, Saratov, Orenburg, Novosibirsk, and Omsk regions—have begun traveling en masse to the republic to buy gasoline. The heaviest traffic was observed in Uralsk, located about 200 km from Samara, Forbes reported.
On July 4, Kazakhstani authorities announced that in just two days, border checkpoints had thwarted 61 attempts to smuggle out more than 3 metric tons of fuel in auxiliary tanks and jerry cans. In Kazakhstan, a liter of gasoline costs about 300–350 tenge (45–55 rubles), while the average price of the same amount of AI-95 in Russia is 74.4 rubles. Meanwhile, amid the shortage, the price of gasoline at some Russian gas stations has already exceeded 100 rubles per liter.
Fuel shortages in Russia are caused by increasingly frequent Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries. On July 5, the Omsk Oil Refinery—with an annual capacity of 22 million metric tons and the country’s largest in terms of production volume—was struck. As a result, it halted operations. The refinery is located approximately 2,500 kilometers from Ukraine and had previously been considered out of reach for such attacks. Afterward, kilometer-long lines began to form at gas stations in the Omsk region.
Following the strike on the Omsk Oil Refinery, not a single one of Russia’s ten largest oil refineries has remained untouched by attacks since the beginning of the year. Previously, “Kirishinefteorgsintez” in the Leningrad Region, the Ryazan, Yaroslavl, Volgograd, and Moscow refineries, Tuapse, and Nizhny Novgorod refineries, as well as “Taneco” in Tatarstan and “Permnefteorgsintez.” Some of these facilities were forced to suspend operations or cut back production following drone strikes.
As a result, refinery utilization rates fell to their lowest level since 2009. According to Reuters, gasoline production in Russia fell by 25% in June—to 85,000 metric tons per day—while summer consumption stands at 110,000 metric tons.
Against this backdrop, authorities have officially imposed restrictions on fuel sales in more than 40 regions, including the occupied territories of Ukraine. At the same time, complaints about supply disruptions, empty gas stations, and closed stations are being reported across virtually all of Russia.