(MOSCOW, RUSSIA) – Russia’s war on Ukraine has boomeranged into a full-blown domestic fuel crisis, forcing the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to publicly admit that Ukrainian drone strikes are causing chaos in 83 regions and may halt oil mining entirely.
The admission marks a stunning break from over four years of Kremlin denials that dismissed strikes on refineries as accidental debris. Putin conceded that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are creating “certain problems” with fuel supplies, a crisis now so severe it is visible from space.
Internal Russian statistics show oil refining volumes have collapsed to 2005 levels, wiping out two decades of capacity. With over 45 percent of refining facilities switched off and sanctions choking export routes for crude oil, authorities are considering freezing mining in several regions. Industry experts warn that mothballing extraction sites effectively destroys them permanently, echoing the fate of Venezuela’s oil sector.
The economic rot is spreading to the labour market. The Kremlin confirmed a wave of “micro protests” in distant regions including Tuva and Kirov, where workers have stopped showing up because salaries have gone unpaid for months. This signals acute distress in both federal and regional budgets. Spiralling inflation, surging taxes, internet shutdowns and vanishing jobs in mono-industrial cities are compounding the misery, forcing previously apolitical Russians to question the war.
The crisis leaves the Kremlin with no solution. Amassing economic problems are interlocking, where solving one immediately worsens another, accelerating a systemic collapse.
Be First to Comment