Russia begins punishing residents for complaining about fuel shortages

As fuel shortages spread across Russia, authorities are increasingly targeting not the shortage itself but those who speak out about it publicly. This was reported by Jānis Slaidiņš, a major in Latvia's National Armed Forces and an officer of the Home Guard staff, during the TV24 program "Aktuālais par karadarbību Ukrainā," citing information from Telegram channels run by Russian residents.

According to Slaidiņš, the fuel shortage in Russia has taken on a new dimension: people face not only restrictions at filling stations but also punishment for publicly complaining about the situation.

Detentions in Volgograd

As an example, Slaidiņš cited an incident in Volgograd, where five local residents recorded a video message addressed to the head of Russia's Investigative Committee, complaining about the fuel situation. They noted that ordinary residents faced restrictions at filling stations, while people with power and connections apparently did not. Rather than examining the facts raised, police detained the authors of the video message themselves, treating their gathering as an unauthorized public event.

A fine in Perm

A similar case occurred in Perm, where a local resident wanted to organize a rally to draw public attention to the shortage of fuel for cars. He informed the city administration of his plan and also posted the information on his Telegram channel. Here too, attention shifted away from the underlying problem and onto the individual's actions — his announcement was classified as illegal agitation, and he was fined 10,000 rubles.

Slaidiņš commented on the authorities' response with irony, adding that those calling for Russia's population to be "saved" would do best to go and save them inside Russia itself, since that is where help is most needed.