The economic forum in St. Petersburg, hosted by Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, runs until Saturday.Image: keystone
Following Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian oil industry facilities, Moscow’s government has admitted a decline in agreed oil production volumes.
June 4, 2026, 2:15 p.mJune 4, 2026, 2:55 p.m
“Now the funding is actually slightly lower than at the beginning of the year,” said Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Nowak at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). “This is because some of our oil production companies are undergoing unscheduled repairs,” he explained. However, he did not mention the reason for these repairs.
Ukraine repeatedly inflicts momentous strikes with drones on the energy superpower. Kiev’s goal is to decimate Moscow’s revenue from oil exports and thereby harm the financing of the Russian war economy. According to experts, the Russian leadership is downplaying the extent of the damage. Nevertheless, Moscow is currently also benefiting from high oil prices.
Ukraine repeatedly inflicts momentous strikes on the energy superpower with drones (archive image from April 2026).Image: keystone
Russia wants to reach the agreed production volume by the end of the year
Nowak said that the intact infrastructure is currently being used to its maximum capacity. The companies are in the process of bringing their production to previous levels. According to the deputy head of government, Russia wants to fully achieve its production volumes agreed within the framework of the OPEC+ states by the end of the year. In April, the daily volume produced in Russia was around nine million barrels per day. That was 107,000 barrels per day less than in March and 580,000 barrels per day less than the quota.
Regarding the increase in fuel prices complained about by many Russians, Nowak said that the situation on the market is under control. At most gas stations the price is in line with inflation, said Nowak. In contrast, Russian media showed where this is not the case everywhere and where the price jumps are over ten percent. In Russia, a liter of gasoline costs less than one euro.
Kremlin hopes for return of Western entrepreneurs
The economic forum in St. Petersburg, hosted by Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, runs until Saturday. Some Western entrepreneurs are also present.
Russia is using the economic forum to present itself to the world and, despite a slump in growth, wants to demonstrate its economic power to the outside world after more than four years of its war of aggression against Ukraine and Western sanctions. Putin’s deputy head of the presidential office, Dmitry Oreshkin, said in St. Petersburg that Russia’s economy must focus on its own strengths and should not count on the possibility that Western sanctions could be lifted again.
Chamber registers less interest
The German-Russian Chamber of Commerce Abroad, which itself organizes a business dialogue with entrepreneurs from both countries at the forum, assumes in an analysis that interest in the event is decreasing. The chamber calculated that there would be over 400 fewer panelists this year than last year.
“The number of high-profile SPIEF guests has decreased significantly over the past five years,” it continued. According to the Kremlin, around 20,000 participants from more than 100 countries have registered. This time the guest country is Saudi Arabia.
This Thursday, Putin will also meet representatives of international news agencies, including the German Press Agency, for a question and answer session. On Friday, Putin will give a speech at the forum – and ask himself questions on a podium that traditionally also revolve around his war against Ukraine. The start of the forum was overshadowed on Wednesday by a Ukrainian drone attack on an oil refinery. The clouds of smoke in the blue sky were also obvious to the forum guests. (dab/sda/dpa)