Federal authorities banned governors from independently seeking fuel on the market for residents of their regions

Federal authorities banned governors from independently seeking fuel on the market for residents of their regions

While federal authorities are allocating scarce fuel, governors have been barred from independently looking for gasoline for their regions. Their task is to divide up the allocated volumes, keep queues under control, and explain themselves to people, sources told Verstka.

Regional authorities cannot solve gasoline shortage problems on their own, even though they are the ones dealing with the consequences.

“Up top they’re haggling over the volumes [of fuel supplies to the regions]. Our only job is distribution. Meaning, a bus pulls up to a gas station. And its number, make, and the driver’s full name all have to be on a special list at that station. They’re drawing up all those lists now for route buses, ambulances, firefighters,” a senior official from one of the Far Eastern regions complained to Verstka.

Another Siberian official, speaking with Verstka, says that as a result fuel is being ‘distributed unevenly’ between regions.

“Some feel shortchanged: their reports on reserves and fuel availability are all bad, yet the fuel still isn’t going to them,” he says.

As a result, governors are tapping personal connections in Moscow, competing with one another for additional supplies, and adopting the most unusual ways of fighting the shortage, from odd-even refueling to QR codes functioning as fuel coupons.

Read on Verstka’s website why the fuel crisis has become the most serious political test for regional authorities since the pandemic (with VPN):

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