Residents of Russia’s Irkutsk region are waiting in line for petrol for up to 18 hours, with the longest known wait lasting through the night, according to Meduza. Meanwhile, 60% of the region’s fuel supplies are reportedly being sent to Moscow.
The fuel crisis and queues at petrol stations in the Irkutsk region have reached record levels. In some cases, motorists have waited as long as 18 hours, while temperatures inside vehicles parked in the sun have reached 30 to 40 degrees Celsius.
The shortages are unfolding in a region that is home to the Angarsk Oil Refinery. According to a source close to the regional authorities, 60% of the fuel allocation has been ordered to be sent to Moscow.
People waiting in line have openly expressed their frustration and criticised the Putin regime for failing to resolve the crisis. Local residents told journalists that they initially underestimated the severity of the shortages.
“At first you think, ‘This is madness. The whole city can’t possibly be out of petrol. It’s just panic. I’ll drive as usual.’ Then you start panicking yourself: ‘What kind of circus is this? What are you doing?’ Then you pull into a petrol station, convince yourself you’ll wait 20 minutes, then 40, move forward only three metres, and eventually… you sink into depression.”
Videos shared on social media show increasingly frustrated motorists waiting in queues. Arguments have frequently escalated into fistfights, and in some cases people have even punctured the tyres of vehicles ahead of them.
An Irkutsk resident, Yekaterina, told journalists she had expected to refuel within a couple of hours. However, when she arrived at a petrol station near her home at 8:30 p.m. and saw a two-kilometre-long queue, she realised the scale of the problem. She finally managed to refuel six hours later and returned home at 3:00 a.m.
On 28 June, the regional governor declared a state of heightened alert due to the fuel shortage.
By the end of last week, the situation had deteriorated dramatically. Initial waiting times of two to four hours had grown to six to eight hours, with some motorists waiting as long as 18 hours. Most petrol stations had either run out of fuel or exhausted their supplies quickly. At some stations, prices reportedly doubled, rising from 65–70 roubles to 135–140 roubles per litre.