Gasoline Crisis Hits Moscow
- 14.08.2026, 9:59
Drivers are abandoning their cars right in the middle of the lines.
The fuel situation has worsened in Moscow and the Moscow Region. Lines for gasoline are escalating into altercations among drivers, and some gas stations are selling only diesel at inflated prices. Restrictions have been imposed in two regions due to the lines for gasoline.
According to the Russian Telegram channel Astra, on the night of August 14, a motorist recorded a video on the M-8 “Kholmogory” federal highway while traveling from Sergiev Posad to Moscow. Some gas stations along the road are closed, while others are selling only diesel.
At some gas stations along the highway, lines have formed at the stations that are still open, and fuel prices there differ significantly from what people are used to.
“Only diesel—no gasoline. And the prices here are sky-high: they’re asking 100 rubles for 95-octane,” eyewitnesses say about the situation on Highway M-8.
Conflicts in the lines
The situation at gas stations is increasingly resembling a panic. According to eyewitnesses, drivers who have been waiting in line for hours sometimes simply give up trying to fill up.
“Out of desperation, people are abandoning their cars [in the lines]—well, there’s no gas. Nowhere in the city,” said an eyewitness who filmed a video on the night of August 14 near Savyolovsky Station in Moscow.
The tension among drivers has even led to direct confrontations right at the gas stations.
“Everyone had been waiting along the road for at least an hour. But he pulled up to the pump from the back, turned around, and cut in front of everyone!” exclaims one of the Moscow drivers in footage shot that same night.
The crisis is affecting dozens of regions
Fuel shortages in Moscow and the surrounding region are not an isolated incident. According to Astra, lines and restrictions on gasoline sales following a new wave of attacks by Ukrainian UAVs on oil refineries have been reported in at least 12 regions of Russia, including the Krasnodar and Primorsky Krais, as well as the Voronezh, Rostov, Ryazan, and Saratov regions.
Authorities in two regions have already imposed direct restrictions on fueling. In the Orenburg and Lipetsk regions, an “odd-even” system has been in effect since August 13: vehicles with license plates starting with an odd number can refuel on one day, and those with even numbers on another.
The longest lines have been reported in Sochi, where the fuel shortage has now lasted for four days. The city administration has sent volunteers to gas stations, and scalpers have appeared in the lines, selling spots closer to the pumps.