Russia is in the grip of a second fuel crisis. Meduza analyzed nearly half a million crowdsourced reports to find out how bad it really is.
In early August, the fuel situation in Russia sharply worsened again. Ukraine is once again striking oil refineries, and long lines have formed at gas stations in many cities. The second wave of the crisis has looked markedly different from the first. Some regions are barely affected, while in others it arrived immediately on the heels of the first, and the return to normal promised by the…
In early August 2026, Russia faced a second fuel crisis, marked by worsening conditions following Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries. Meduza analyzed nearly half a million reports from the GdeBENZ service, which drivers use to report gas station availability. GdeBENZ recorded 478,685 messages about fuel at 25,129 stations across 83 regions between July 4 and August 23.
The analysis found two key indicators: the share of stations where gasoline could be bought without a line and the share of stations that had gasoline, lines included. During the worst period from July 8 to 11, only a fraction of stations had gasoline available, and in many cases, lines formed. By the end of July, the situation had improved, with better access to gasoline at many stations.
The data was cross-checked with bank purchase records from Sberbank, T-Bank, and Alfa-Bank, showing a correlation between positive GdeBENZ reviews and actual gasoline purchases. Despite potential manipulation risks, the GdeBENZ data proved reliable in tracking the crisis dynamics.
Written by urgent.news from Meduza (English)'s reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
