Putin says fuel market pressures won’t hit economy

Russian President Vladimir Putin said challenges facing Russia’s fuel market are “temporary” and will not derail broader economic performance, as he described key sectors of the economy as stable during a government meeting in Moscow.

Speaking at a session on economic issues, cited by TASS, Putin said: “I want to emphasise once again that the difficulties being created for us in the fuel market are, of course, temporary in nature and are not capable of affecting economic dynamics. (...) Even despite external attempts to destabilise the situation in the fuel and energy complex, and in some other sectors.”

He added that Russia’s gross domestic product grew by 0.3% in May and by 0.2% in the first five months of 2026.

Putin also said the federal budget recorded a surplus of 196 billion roubles in June, attributing the result to rising revenues. “An important role here was played by the increase in budget revenues, with both oil and gas revenues rising, as well as budget receipts not related to the oil and gas sector. These so-called non-oil and gas revenues in the second quarter of this year were more than a quarter higher than in the same period last year.”

By Tamilla Hasanova