Russia To Ban Petrol Exports For 6 Months From March 1

The ban is to compensate for the rising demand from consumers and farmers and to allow for planned maintenance of refineries.

Russia has on Tuesday, announced a six-month ban on gasoline exports from March 1 to compensate for rising demand from consumers and farmers and to allow for planned maintenance of refineries.

The ban was confirmed by Alexander Novak, a spokeswoman for the Russian Prime minister.

Russia previously imposed a similar ban between September and November last year in order to tackle high domestic prices and shortages, from which only four ex-Soviet states, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, were exempt.

This time, the ban will not extend to member states of the Eurasian Economic Union, Mongolia, Uzbekistan and two Russian-backed breakaway regions of Georgia – South Ossetia and Abkhazia