Russia will ban petrol exports for six months from 1 March, according to a spokeswoman for deputy prime minister Alexander Novak, who oversees the country’s energy sector.
The move is meant to compensate for rising demand from Russian consumers and farmers and to allow for planned maintenance of refineries.
Russia adopted a similar ban between September and November last year to tackle high domestic prices and shortages.
Only four countries were exempt – Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, which all used to be part of the Soviet Union and now form the Eurasian Economic Union.
These four countries are once again exempt, along with Mongolia, Uzbekistan and two Russian-backed breakaway regions of Georgia – South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
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