Key Points and Summary – In a rare admission of weakness this week, Russian President Vladimir Putin acknowledged that his country is suffering from a significant “gas shortage.”
-Many experts attribute the crisis directly to a relentless and effective campaign of Ukrainian drone strikes that have crippled Russia’s oil refining capacity.
-This energy crisis compounds Russia’s severe economic problems.
-At the same forum, the CEO of Russia’s largest bank described the economy as being in “technical stagnation” with near-zero growth, citing crippling interest rates and plummeting oil and gas revenues, leaving many to wonder if this is the pressure that will finally force Putin to negotiate.
Russia’s Next Challenge: A Gas Shortage
Russian President Vladimir Putin isn’t often one to admit weakness. But this week, Putin admitted that Russia is suffering from a gas shortage.
According to Tass, the Russian news agency, the comments came in Putin’s address to the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok. The economic forum focused on the Eastern part of Russia.
In speaking about the gas shortage, he vowed to do more to utilize Russia’s coal reserves.
“We know that in general the situation with energy is being resolved, but there are many issues that require special attention: for example, we are facing a gas shortage, we do not have connections between the various components of the energy infrastructure, and our grid economy requires development,” Putin said in his address.
Per the Kyiv Independent, the Russian president did not state the reason for the gas shortage, which is mostly understood to center on successful Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure.
Time For Coal
In the forum speech, Putin also touted Russia’s coal reserves.
“However, there is a fairly large amount of coal of various classes, which will last for almost a thousand years, all coal reserves will last for 900 years, which, of course, can be used much more efficiently, with greater efficiency and in compliance with all environmental requirements,” Putin said, per Tass.
At the same forum, The Moscow Times reported, the CEO of Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, German Gref, stated that Russia’s economy has slipped into “technical stagnation” and that growth is approaching “zero,” based on economic data for July and August.
For that, Gref blamed the Russian Central Bank’s tight monetary policy.
The key interest rate in Russia reached as high as 21 percent a year ago, and has since been cut to a still very high 18 percent.
“According to our internal estimates [at Sberbank], the rate will be around 14% by year-end. Is that enough for the economy to start recovering? In our view, it is not,” Gref said at the forum, per Moscow Times. “Given the current level of inflation, recovery can only be expected when the rate is at 12% or lower.”
The story also cited data from Kommersant, which stated that Russia’s oil and gas revenues fell for four straight months, including a 36 percent plunge from July to August.
How Ukraine Did It
The reason for the fuel crisis is that Ukraine has succeeded at reducing its capacity, mostly via drone strikes. Most recently, Ukraine struck the Ryazan–Moscow oil pipeline, which serves the area around Moscow.
CNN reported in late August that Ukraine had “stepped up” its attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure, and that the strategy appeared to be working.
Per CNN, a pro-Ukrainian group in Crimea called Yellow Ribbon had posted to Telegram, stating that “the understanding that this is the result of the good drones’ work on the Russian economy does not allow me to be sad.”
According to The Guardian, many Russians are “struggling to fill their fuel tanks after weeks of Ukrainian drone strikes crippled refining capacity across the country.” The fuel shortages have been felt most acutely in rural parts of the country.
“This is not the first fuel crisis; it has happened several times before the war,” Boris Aronstein, an independent oil and gas analyst, told The Guardian. But Ukraine has managed to have more of an impact with its strikes of late.
“The attacks are massive, coordinated, and repeated; they come in waves, and the refineries simply do not have time to repair the damage caused by the previous attack before the next one occurs,” Aronstein told the newspaper.
The big question remains whether the gas crisis, and any economic crisis that may follow, might serve to push Putin back to the negotiation table in a way that past pressure, including sanctions, has not.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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Swamplaw Yankee
September 7, 2025 at 12:09 am
The USA POTUS Obama Democrat Cabal of 2014 betrayed the WEST with their marxist blood brother Putin the beneficiary.
The long haul to allocate scarce Ukrainian resources to missiles/drone production was very necessary. Ukraine suddenly has a few spots where their own production makes Ukraine the decisionmaker of use!
Ukraine would have saved thousands of Fathers, if the First Trump was not so dense about helping end that re-start of Genocide of Ukrainians with a meaningful military hardware transfer. -30-