Amid fuel disruptions, Russia imported a record volume of gasoline from Belarus between June 1 and June 25 — nearly 2.5 times the total volume for the entire month of May.
The record increase in imports of Belarusian gasoline was reported by the Center for Price Indices (CPI). Earlier, Russian media also reported that Belarusian gasoline on the commodity exchange had become twice as expensive as Russian gasoline.
In June, Belarus sold 141,000 tons of gasoline to Russia. This is almost half of all gasoline that Belarus produces in a month. But for Russia, this volume is enough for only about one day: at the summer peak, average daily gasoline consumption in the country is about 110,000–115,000 tons.
Belarus operates two major oil refineries — Naftan and Mozyr Refinery. They produce about 300,000 tons of gasoline per month, about a third of which goes to domestic needs, with the remaining 200,000 tons exported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on July 9 that Ukraine would not obstruct fuel supplies from Belarus to Russia, but called it an "historical joke" that Russia has to buy gasoline from its neighbor.
According to a report by the international research initiative iSANS, the total volume of Belarusian oil product exports in June was roughly the same as a year earlier.