OREANDA-NEWS. The Kremlin proceeds from the assumption that the government keeps the situation with fuel prices under control and will not allow a sharp rise. This was announced to reporters by the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov.

The Accounts Chamber of the Russian Federation said earlier on Wednesday that, based on the results of control measures carried out in 2020, it sees risks of a repeat of the 2018 fuel crisis. Commenting on the situation, the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation recalled that the Ministry is already taking a number of measures to curb the growth of retail prices and fuel supply to the regions, and Deputy Minister Pavel Sorokin said that the department does not see the prerequisites for a repeat of the 2018 fuel crisis this year.

Pesokov added that jumps in fuel prices both this year and 2018 were and are extremely undesirable. According to him, they became "the reason for the development of a special damper mechanism, which is designed to dampen the changes associated with the global oil price situation."

The damping mechanism was created to contain fuel prices on the domestic market in Russia. The essence of this mechanism is as follows: if the export price of gasoline and diesel fuel is higher than the conditional domestic Russian price, then the state compensates the oil companies for part of this difference so that they do not raise prices in the Russian Federation. And if Russian prices are higher than export prices, the oilmen share with the state part of their super-profits from domestic fuel sales.