All participants in the appeal to the head of the Investigative Committee regarding gasoline in Volgograd have faced administrative prosecution.

The courts have already imposed fines on four participants of the appeal to Alexander Bastrykin, and a fifth person, who tried to tell the head of the Investigative Committee about the situation with gasoline in Volgograd more than a month and a half ago, is also awaiting trial. Meanwhile, the situation with gasoline in the region is getting worse, and the queues have turned into hours-long waits.

As reported by "Caucasian Knot", on July 16, police detained five people at a gas station in Volgograd who were trying to record a video appeal to Alexander Bastrykin about the gasoline situation. Lawyer Alexey Sevastyanov was arrested the next day for five days, and activist Natalia Kuzmina was fined 20,000 rubles; she intends to appeal this decision. Later, the Volzhsky court fined Alexey Sevastyanov 10,000 rubles.

Activists have been fined

Alexey Sevastyanov told a correspondent of "Caucasian Knot" details about the court proceedings against the participants of the recording. On August 31, the regional court heard Sevastyanov's appeal against the Central District Court of Volgograd's decision to arrest him for five days for disobeying "allegedly lawful demands of police officers." On August 12 and 25, the same court imposed fines of 10,000 rubles on two other participants of the video appeal, Tatyana Smetanko and Natalia Oglobina. According to Alexey, none of the participants received any summons to court.

"Participants of the video appeal Sergey Ostrovsky and Natalia Kuzmina came to the hearing of my appeal, and after the court session, she was suddenly detained. The same officer who represented the interests of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in this court detained her. Natalia Kuzmina was very surprised and suggested that he stop exceeding his authority. But he ignored Natalia's remark and took her to the department. However, due to errors in the documents, it was not possible to convict Natalia that day. Judge Virabova returned the administrative material and did not consider it," he reported.

On September 2, a law enforcement officer detained Kuzmina near a school where she had taken her children, detaining her for the third time. This time, after 1.5 months, the officers corrected their errors in the documents, and another judge reviewed the administrative materials regarding this activist.

"As a result of the review, the mother of two children was fined 20,000 rubles, which she will, of course, appeal," Sevastyanov reported.

"Our fifth activist, Marina Arkhipova, will be tried on September 16. The result will be the same as for the other participants in our video appeal to Bastrykin - a fine of 10,000 rubles," Sevastyanov added.

The gasoline situation is worsening

According to Sevastyanov, the gasoline situation is worsening; people line up in queues from the evening and stand in them until morning, waiting for the gas stations to open.

"Moreover, it turned out that many Lukoil gas stations have gasoline, but by internal order, the pumps are programmatically blocked. The unblocking occurs at a certain time set for each gas station, after which the operator begins to dispense the available gasoline. The reasons for such blockages and why gas stations do not start dispensing gasoline immediately after it is drained from the fuel truck are unknown to anyone," the interlocutor expressed indignation.

Sevastyanov reported that from August 29 to September 5, during his vacation, he traveled by his own car along the route Ryazan-Murom-Kazan-Samara-Volzhsky. Approaching Ryazan, he managed to refuel with A-95 gasoline at a Gazpromneft gas station for 68 rubles with a limit of 30 liters; the queue was small (3-4 cars). But he noticed that on the highway, there are private gas stations "where you can refuel the 95th without any queue for 120-130 rubles per liter." "Mainly, there is only diesel at the gas stations; gasoline is usually not available. And where it is available at a normal price, there is already a queue, and the queue starts to form as soon as the rumor spreads that gasoline will soon be available at this gas station. When it will appear is unknown, but since it is rumored to be coming, people start lining up and waiting," Sevastyanov explained. In Kazan, the gasoline situation turned out to be the most favorable: there were no queues, and the price of A-95 gasoline on September 3 was 74.85 rubles per liter.

In the Samara region, queues have appeared. During the return to Volzhsky, travelers encountered "mostly empty gas stations"; where gasoline was sold, its price reached 130 rubles per liter (September 5).

"We arrived in Volzhsky, and now we will have to stand in endless queues since there is no gasoline in the city," Alexey lamented.

According to the activist, officials in the Volgograd region government are providing the public and federal authorities with inaccurate information about the current crisis situation.

"They are deliberately escalating social tension. I think that a few days before the elections, they will solve the problem and try to use this trick to draw more people to the elections," Sevastyanov suggested.

When asked by a journalist how quickly the fuel crisis situation will be resolved in the Volgograd region, Sevastyanov noted that this crisis has been ongoing for four months, "and so far, there are no results in solving the problem."

"We only hear talk about logistics, but nothing is happening; people stand in endless queues at gas stations day and night," he said, noting that "if the fuel crisis situation does not change before the elections, it is obvious that citizens will vote for anyone but the ruling party," Alexey said.

"If the situation is corrected, then United Russia will have a chance to maintain a majority in parliament," Sevastyanov believes.

But overall, in his opinion, "the people are extremely dissatisfied with everything that has been happening lately" - the sharp increase in VAT, profit tax, the introduction of the "Honest Sign" system in all areas of trade, the introduction of electronic transport documents for all cargo carriers starting September 1, and the constant increase in utility service fees and capital repair contributions.

Lawyer Sergey Ivashchenko noted that officials from the city and regional administrations refuel using fuel cards paid for by the administrations "at a specially designated gas station."

"The supposedly non-operational Gazprom gas station on Cherepovetskaya Street (in Volgograd) serves just such holders of magical fuel cards. And, apparently, there is more than one such specialized gas station in the regional center. One can understand the officials: they cannot stand in queues for 9-11 hours with ordinary citizens, taking their places from the night. Otherwise, management work will come to a standstill, and the crisis will worsen even more. Both officials and special service workers, as well as employees of other agencies, must have unhindered access to fuel. But why hide so much? Explain the necessity of this openly to the citizens. They will understand you. Especially before the elections," Sergey Ivashchenko said.

A resident of the Krasnoarmeysky district of Volgograd Dmitry told the correspondent that on September 8, he "broke the record" for standing in line at a gas station - 11 hours.

"Officials from the administrations should stand in queues with us and, just like ordinary Volgograd residents, break records for standing in line. There should be no privileges. Then, perhaps, this problem will move from its place, and gasoline will finally appear in the city. It is clear that this does not apply to vehicles of the healthcare system, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, fire departments, and utility companies. Because this concerns the safety of citizens. But officials can stand with us at the gas stations," Dmitry expressed his opinion.