Due to the fuel crisis, Russians are being encouraged to fill up in China

Dozens of posts have appeared in online chat rooms in cities across the Transbaikal Region of the Russian Federation offering to refuel cars in neighboring Chinese Manchuria. 

This new service has emerged amid an acute fuel shortage in the region: business owners promise to drive a customer’s car across the border, fill it up, and return it to the owner. Prices range from 66 rubles per liter of diesel when paying in yuan to 97 rubles per liter of AI-95 gasoline (30–44 UAH).

The fuel crisis in the Trans-Baikal Region has been ongoing since late June, prompting the region to declare a state of heightened readiness; limits have been imposed on gasoline sales to individuals—capped at 15 liters per day— and lines stretching for several kilometers have formed at gas stations. To combat the shortage, regional authorities planned to ban all freight traffic—except for fuel tankers—on the region’s roads and at the “Zabaikalsk” border crossing, which is a key route for Chinese imports. However, following intervention by the Russian federal authorities, these restrictive plans were abandoned.

This was reported by “Ostorozhno, Novosti.”

In Ufa, people have begun complaining en masse about a critical deterioration in gasoline quality at gas stations. Published footage shows that the fuel is separating right inside plastic bottles, which may indicate serious violations of production technology or the mixing of components.

Earlier, the Russian presidential administration sent special “recommendations” to state-run and pro-government media outlets regarding how exactly to report on the fuel shortage in the country.

The fuel crisis is also intensifying in Russia: gasoline is disappearing from gas stations and lines are growing longer.

Russia has allowed lower-quality gasoline due to the fuel crisis.