At a televised government meeting chaired by President Putin on Wednesday morning, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak delivered the announcement that Yerevan had been quietly dreading for weeks. The Russian government has put a total ban on all diesel exports, to take immediate effect until July 31, as Ukraine's systematic bombing of Russian oil refineries via drones has slowed down crude-processing rates to their lowest point in several years, creating long queues at petrol stations throughout the country. To the rest of the world, this news is just another energy market story. European diesel margins reached an all-time high of $60.17 per barrel following the news, while Iran's war has already squeezed the same global barrel pool from the other side. But for Armenia, this is more of a crisis: 150,000 out of 180,000 tonnes of Armenia's imported diesel come from Russia, and the country has no refineries, oil wells of its own, and no viable alternatives it could exploit.

The fuel crisis in Russia of 2025–2026 started in August 2025 after an increase in the number of Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil refineries, which led to damage to the infrastructure and a decrease in the production of refined products within the Russian oil sector. In June 2026, the fuel crisis developed to such an extent that a state of emergency was declared in Crimea, where it became impossible to buy fuel products. Gasoline exports were banned in April 2026 for the first time. Today's diesel export ban is the final stage in a process that has been evident for months to those who have been observing the numbers of Ukraine's drone strikes. In just the first six months of 2026, Ukraine has conducted no less than 194 attacks on Russian oil refineries compared to only 17 in the........

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