By August 17, at least ten Russian regions had tightened restrictions on gasoline sales, and two days later limits returned to filling stations in Moscow and the Moscow region: Gazprom Neft capped sales at 40–60 liters depending on the station type, Rosneft at 30 liters, and Tatneft at 50 liters. Some stations closed entirely or sold only diesel, while kilometer-long queues formed at others.
The most acute situation is in regions far from major refineries and dependent on long supply chains. In Yakutsk, drivers spend 10–11 hours in line to fill up no more than 20 liters. By August 24, AI-92 and AI-95 gasoline, as well as diesel, were sold only at five stations of the state-run Sakhaneftegazsbyt. Tuymaada-Neft dispensed fuel via cards and an app, and resumed cash sales of AI-92 at four more stations.
Yakutsk resident Amaana said AI-95 ran out right in front of her: "Only 92 and diesel were left. I had to put 92 in my Chinese car. It could end badly for the engine, but I had no other way to get home." Another driver, Ayaan, spent 11 hours at the station. Nyurguyana Zamorshchikova, a deputy of the republic's parliament from the New People party, called the situation a "transport and social crisis" and sent requests to the prosecutor's office. She noted that some fuel was dispensed via special cards that ordinary residents do not have.
In the early hours of August 26, Ukrainian drones attacked the Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez refinery in Kstovo — Russia's fourth-largest by processing volume and second-largest by gasoline output. Monitoring channels Exilenova+ and Supernova+ reported a fire on the plant's territory; authorities did not confirm this. Nizhny Novgorod region governor Gleb Nikitin said "one industrial enterprise" had been damaged, without naming it.
Amid the shortage, authorities banned fuel exports, allowed sales of lower environmental-class gasoline, and, for the first time in years, are importing large volumes from abroad. Moscow agreed with Astana to process its crude at Kazakhstan's Kondensat refinery: about 70% of the gasoline and diesel produced there will be sent back to Russia, Kazakhstan's energy minister said.