Regions Calling: As Fuel Crisis Widens, Russia's Regions Brace for the Worst

Hello and welcome to Regions Calling , your guide to developments from beyond the Russian capital by The Moscow Times. This week, we are looking at how fuel shortages triggered by Ukrainian attacks on oil refineries and supply networks have begun to transform the lives of people across Russia’s regions — and what long-term impacts of the disruption are yet to be seen. But first, the latest news: The Headlines A major landfill fire in the Far East republic of Sakha (Yakutia) burned for a week, blanketing the regional capital Yakutsk in smog and hazardous air pollution. The blaze was likely caused by chronic overcapacity at the landfill, where waste volumes had long exceeded safe limits, according to local environmental expert Yekaterina Sivtseva. In the North Caucasus republic of Kabardino-Balkaria , local activists asked the region’s head Kazbek Kokov and parliament members to oppose constitutional amendments pushed for by local Prosecutor Nikolai Khabarov. Earlier this month, Khabarov called for removing five clauses from the republic’s constitution, including guarantees of its territorial integrity and statehood. The republic’s parliament is due to consider the changes later this year. If adopted, Russia’s federal government in Moscow will be legally allowed to redraw the borders of the republic or merge it with any of the neighboring regions, local activists warn. A military court in Moscow on Tuesday ordered the pre-trial arrest of Wisam Ali Bardwil, the former head mufti of the republic of Karelia and chairman of the Union of Islamic Organizations of Russia. Bardwil was initially arrested in Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport in May. Authorities then claimed that he refused a police request to show his ID before attempting to flee the scene. Before being sent to pre-trial detention this week, Bardwil was repeatedly subjected to “carousel arrests” — a repressive tactic in which authorities impose consecutive administrative arrests instead of launching full criminal proceedings. Though charges against Bardwil have not been publicized, the case is believed to be linked to the escalating standoff between Russia’s two leading Islamic authorities. In the Sverdlovsk region in the Ural Mountains, the small town of Kushva was hit by a rare tornado on Tuesday, leveling dozens of homes and damaging nearly 100 others. Videos shared on social media captured the funnel cloud moving through a populated area, while subsequent images revealed a landscape of uprooted trees, crushed vehicles and destroyed houses. Animal rights activists in Siberia’s Irkutsk region staged a protest to urge the local governor against signing a bill that would allow for stray animals to be euthanized during states of emergency, instead calling for more humane population control measures like sterilization. The bill, which was passed by the Irkutsk regional assembly earlier this month, would allow authorities to declare a state of emergency in response to dog attacks. Any animals captured during this period would be euthanized after 11 days if their owners don’t come forward to claim them. Similar measures in other regions have also sparked protests in recent years. As Fuel Rationing Spreads, Some Russians Fear the Worst Is Still to Come A fast-growing number of regional officials and gas station chains across Russia are restricting gasoline and diesel sales as Ukrainian drone attacks on oil refineries and supply networks take a mounting toll on supplies. Fuel rationing measures were in place in at least 56 Russian regions as of Thursday, according to open-source data analyzed by The Moscow Times. In dozens more regions, residents are complaining about fast-rising gasoline prices, closed filling stations and miles-long lines, while some local authorities and major retailers remain hesitant to enact rationing. “In some districts of our republic, there is no fuel at gas stations right now, so people go to [the capital] Kyzyl to refuel,” said a resident of Tyva , a southern Siberian republic roughly the size of Tunisia. Gasoline prices in Tyva have risen by 9.2% between June 16 and June 22, reaching an average of 90.63 rubles ($1.21) per liter, the highest price in any of Russia’s regions, according to the latest weekly data from state statistics agency Rosstat. As of Thursday, Tyvan authorities and gas station chains have not introduced any purchase limits. The region’s head Vladislav Khovalyg has not yet commented on the situation. Because there are no operating railways in Tyva, a vast region bordering Mongolia, all consumer goods and petroleum products have to be delivered by truck or plane. For ordinary residents of one of Russia’s poorest regions, rising gasoline prices mean that the cost of all basic goods — the majority of which are shipped in from elsewhere — will also keep increasing. “Our peak prices have already risen above all imaginable peaks. For four years now, we've been stocking up on everything, just in case. And it seems like it