And here a reasonable question arises: what prevented then, in the summer, a meeting or two with Novak – with the same decisions as on November 16? Look, they would have stopped the wave of price increases. Without the use of ‘heavy artillery’ in the form of a complete ban on the export of petroleum products from Russia. Instead, the departments involved watched the process phlegmatically all summer, only occasionally commenting on the situation in the spirit that everything was under control and the market would regulate everything. Only the Minister of Agriculture could not hold back and made panicky statements about the growing shortage of fuel on the domestic market and the real threat of no harvest due to the disappearance of diesel fuel from oil depots.

It is also interesting that yesterday’s meeting with Novak has driven down stock prices for almost all types of motor fuels. Except for one thing: winter diesel. On the contrary, the price rose by half a percent and almost reached the psychologically symbolic figure of 70,000 rubles/ton. Taking into account the revealed full controllability of the Russian oil products market by the authorities, we can conclude that today the government is not at all opposed to oil workers earning an extra “cent” from the owners of commercial equipment, almost all of whom runs on heavy fuel. That ultimately amounts to the entire population of the country, on whom the higher costs of fuel carriers will inevitably be passed on.

And here a reasonable question arises: what prevented then, in the summer, a meeting or two with Novak – with the same decisions as on November 16? Look, they would have stopped the wave of price increases. Without the use of ‘heavy artillery’ in the form of a complete ban on the export of petroleum products from Russia. Instead, the departments involved watched the process phlegmatically all summer, only occasionally commenting on the situation in the spirit that everything was under control and the market would regulate everything. Only the Minister of Agriculture could not restrain himself and issued panic speeches about the growing shortage of fuel on the domestic market and the real threat of running out of crops due to the disappearance of diesel fuel from oil depots.

It is also interesting that yesterday’s meeting with Novak has driven down stock prices for almost all types of motor fuels. Except for one thing: winter diesel. On the contrary, the price rose by half a percent and almost reached the psychologically symbolic figure of 70,000 rubles/ton. Taking into account the revealed full controllability of the Russian oil products market by the authorities, we can conclude that today the government is not at all opposed to oil workers earning an extra “cent” from the owners of commercial equipment, almost all of whom runs on heavy fuel. That ultimately amounts to the entire population of the country, on whom the higher costs of fuel carriers will inevitably be passed on.