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.

Filed 49m ago · Via Meduza · The Buffoon Desk

THIS STORY IS SCORED

Bumbly March

Kevin MacLeod · incompetech.com · CC BY 4.0

Photo: Justus Sustermans · Public domain · via Wikimedia Commons

Meduza analyzed nearly half a million crowdsourced reports from the GdeBENZ fuel-tracking service, covering 25,129 gas stations across 83 Russian regions between July and August 2026, to assess a renewed fuel crisis following fresh Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries.

During the worst days of the first wave, gasoline could be bought without a line at only 17-29% of stations, with sales caps of 20 to 30 liters per person common. The outlet cross-checked the crowdsourced data against card-payment records from three major Russian banks and found the trends held up despite Russia's Energy Ministry suggesting the tracking services could be manipulated.

A second wave beginning in early August hit some regions immediately after the first eased, with normal service never fully returning in several areas, undercutting official assurances that the crisis had passed.

The full dispatch is available from the source below.

✒ FROM THE EDITORIAL DESK

An energy ministry that dismisses inconvenient fuel maps while offering no maps of its own is not skepticism, it's stagecraft. When the same institution that caused the shortage is also the one grading the thermometer, trust the drivers in line, not the press office.

Source: Read the original at Meduza → Scored: Bumbly March · Kevin MacLeod · CC BY 4.0

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