From 1 September, Russian filling stations may sell only motor petrol and diesel as liquid motor fuel. That is the requirement of decree No. 1112 of 29 August, published on the 31st. Since 5 August, decree No. 976 has defined what counts as petrol: until 1 July 2027, fuel of environmental classes K2, K3 and K4 may be released into circulation, including fuel containing up to 3 per cent methanol by volume. The entire regime rests on presidential decree No. 509 of 24 July 2026, which does not appear on the official portal of legal acts.
What decree No. 976 permits
The operative part opens like this:
“1. To establish that until 1 July 2027 the following is permitted: the release into circulation and circulation on the territory of the Russian Federation of motor petrol of environmental classes K3, K4, including with a methanol content of no more than 3 per cent by volume, K2 and K5, and of diesel fuel of environmental classes K2, K3, K4 and K5 without regard to the requirements of point 4.1 of article 4 (as regards the conformity of motor petrol of environmental classes K3 and K4 to the norms on methanol content by volume) and article 7 of the technical regulation of the Customs Union…”
The same is permitted for imported petrol. Point 2 adds a reclassification rule: imported petrol matching the characteristics of class K5 but containing up to 3% methanol “is recognised as motor petrol of environmental classes K3 and K4”. The decree gives no volumes: neither how much such fuel is expected nor what share of sales it represents.
The decree that is not on the portal
The title of decree No. 976 names its basis word for word: “On the implementation of measures provided for by Decree of the President of the Russian Federation of 24 July 2026 No. 509 ‘On certain measures to improve the reliability of fuel supply in the Russian Federation’”. We checked the block of presidential acts on publication.pravo.gov.ru covering 4 July to 31 August 2026. It contains 83 published decrees numbered from 476 to 625. Decree No. 509 is not among them.
The gap in the numbering proves nothing on its own: across that same range, roughly half the numbers are never published — personnel decrees, award decrees and other acts that do not reach the portal. The evidence lies elsewhere. The same mechanism has a predecessor with an identical title: decree No. 819 of 2 July 2026 implemented decree No. 725 of 12 October 2025, “On certain measures to improve the reliability of fuel supply in the Russian Federation”. Decree No. 725 is not on the portal either — although decree No. 724, “On certain measures of an economic nature in the fuel and energy sphere”, signed the same day, was published and opens that day’s publications.
So for almost a year, the rules governing what may lawfully go into a fuel tank have rested on presidential acts whose text is not publicly available. We know only what published government decrees relay in their own titles and preambles.
How the bar came down
Decree No. 819 was narrower. Until 31 December 2026, it allowed the release into circulation of petrol that was still called class K5:
“…motor petrol of environmental class K5 with a sulphur content of no more than 150 milligrams per kilogram, an aromatic hydrocarbon content of no more than 42 per cent by volume, monomethylaniline of no more than 1 per cent, oxygenates (ethanol) of no more than 5 per cent and (or) diesel fuel of environmental class K5 with a sulphur content of no more than 350 milligrams per kilogram without regard to the requirements of the technical regulation of the Customs Union…”
The same decree stated that such fuel is not marked with the single conformity mark of the Eurasian Economic Union market and may not be released into circulation in other member states. Point 2 barred Rosstandart from checking such products for compliance with the technical regulation at facilities in the category “Flammable liquids held at commodity and raw-material warehouses and depots”. Point 4 of decree No. 819 has no text at all — only the marking “For official use”. We encountered the same structure on 30 August: three of the fifteen exceptions to the fuel export ban have no text for the same reason.
The difference between July and August is the difference between loosening specifications and lowering the class. No. 819 kept the fuel at class K5 despite worse readings. No. 976 repealed it and allowed fuel to be classified as K2. It also widened the list of those entitled to release such fuel. Holders of certificates for operations with straight-run petrol, oil depots providing blending services, and organisations authorised to sell petrol and diesel produced by a foreign organisation outside Belarus joined holders of registration certificates for crude-oil refining. The decree separately eases customs procedures: no security for duties and taxes is required during temporary storage, and declarations go through the Energy customs post, code 10006060.
What changes at the pump
Decree No. 1112 suspends until 30 June 2027 the first paragraph of point 74 of the Rules for the sale of goods under a retail purchase contract, and establishes for the same period:
“in the conduct of retail trade in liquid motor fuel at filling stations, only motor petrol and diesel fuel are permitted to be sold as liquid motor fuel, which must comply with the requirements of the legislation of the Russian Federation and be dispensed using fuel dispensers…”
The second instruction in the same point is the other side of the lower standard: the quality document (passport) must now carry the prescribed values and the actual test results, “taking into account the provisions” of decree No. 976. Once the standard is relaxed, compliance has to be documented separately. The regulation no longer guarantees what it once did.
Where the budget money is
Decree No. 724 — the published half of the October pair — shows the channel directly. It establishes that diesel produced by organisations blending diesel, aviation kerosene and other components, without either a registration certificate for crude-oil refining or the corresponding capacity, is not recognised as an excisable good. It continues:
“b) the value Kdemp provided for by point 27 of article 200 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation shall be calculated in the established manner without applying the condition on permissible deviations, over the tax period, of the average wholesale selling prices in the Russian Federation for AI-92 class 5 motor petrol and class 5 diesel fuel from the values TsABvr and TsDTvr.”
In other words, the damper is calculated without the condition that would have reduced it to zero once wholesale prices left the corridor. We examined that line on 25 August: the damper appears as a negative line within oil and gas revenue. The decree applied from 1 October 2025 until 1 May 2026.
What this changes in our model
Today, nothing. Oil and gas revenue scores 14 out of 100. It measures the level against 2021, not the rate against last year. None of these decrees moves money or sets volumes; they change what may be sold and on what terms.
The mechanism, though, reaches the same line from two sides. Permitting K2–K4 means there is not enough compliant fuel, and the state is closing the gap by lowering the standard rather than by buying or producing. Exempting blended diesel from excise reduces receipts directly. Calculating the damper without the price-deviation condition increases the payout directly. Both movements point the same way. How much of this reached the August and September figures will appear in Minfin’s monthly file. The rest is on the monitor.
What we do not know
Above all, we do not know the content of decrees No. 509 and No. 725. We have established only that they are not on the portal. We do not know whether they are classified, marked for official use or published elsewhere. There are no quantitative data: no share of class K2–K4 fuel in sales, no count of refineries that are down and no figure for the fall in refining. Neither act states how much the budget lost through the excise exemption under decree No. 724 or what the change in the damper calculation cost. Rosstat, which would provide the physical volumes, is unreachable. Nor do we know whether decree No. 509 will be extended past 1 July 2027 or whether its text will ever appear.