Matvienko calls situation with fuels and lubricants in Russia difficult
Speaker of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation Valentina Matvienko expressed confidence that the government will solve the problem with fuels and lubricants (F&L) and instructed senators to keep under control the issue of providing diesel fuel to the agro-industrial complex.
"Measures are being taken, I will not disclose the details now. We will get out of this difficult situation, which is being created for us by someone who is understandable and is being created on purpose," Matvienko said at a meeting of the Federation Council on Wednesday.
According to her, the situation is indeed difficult.
"The government working group led by Deputy Prime Minister Novak is finding solutions on a daily basis to correct the situation. It will take time. I am confident that the situation will be corrected and the decisions necessary for this are being made by the government," she stressed.
Matvienko instructed her first deputy Andrei Yatskin and the Federation Council Committee on Agrarian and Food Policy and Environmental Management to "keep the issue of providing diesel fuel primarily to the agro-industrial complex under separate control."
The speaker responded this way to the speech of Senator Viktor Kress, who, at the request of farmers, raised the issue of the "catastrophic state of providing the agro-industrial complex with fuels and lubricants."
"Probably, in these conditions, it would be right in the civil spheres of the economy to give priority to providing F&L to the agro-industrial complex," he said.
In addition, in his opinion, it is necessary to control prices in this area as well. "There are companies that set a price such that to buy a liter of fuel, you need to sell five liters of milk," Kress said.
"Today, the harvest is underway in the south of the country, and in Siberia we are preparing feed. Without fuels and lubricants, everything will stop. We will ruin everything that has been created with great difficulty in the agro-industrial complex in recent years by the whole country," the senator noted.
Matvienko, in turn, thanked Kress for raising this issue, but called on him "not to exaggerate the dramatization."
"You are right, the harvest is underway and we have no right to allow serious disruptions. Especially since agricultural workers are making every effort to preserve the harvest and increase the volume of agricultural products in these difficult conditions. There should be a firm shoulder of the state here," she said.
"We must not dramatize, not moan and groan, but look for a solution," the speaker concluded.
Source: Interfax
