La escasez de combustible es un nuevo desafío político para el presidente Vladimir Putin ya que la implacable campaña de drones ucranianos contra las refinerías de petróleo de Rusia ha hecho que la guerra se convierta en un asunto de interés para la mayoría de los rusos de a pie.

Las colas en las estaciones de servicio son cada vez más largas, al igual que la frustración y la incertidumbre, ya que varios meses de ataques ucranianos han incendiado refinerías de petróleo y han interrumpido el suministro para los automovilistas en todo el vasto país.

Kiev ha logrado golpear e incendiar refinerías en lugares tan lejanos como Tiumén, a 1930 kilómetros de distancia en Siberia, y en la región de Moscú destruyó la principal planta, el punto de inflexión de la crisis actual. Según The Wall Street Journal, Sergey Vakulenko, exjefe de estrategia de Gazprom Neft, estima que el 28% de la capacidad de refinación de Rusia estaba inactiva.

Algo similar dijo a la agencia Associated Press Chris Wwafer, director ejecutivo de la consultora Macro-Advisory Ltd. “Un tercio de la capacidad de refinación de petróleo de Rusia está fuera de servicio”, aclarando que las refinerías no confirman públicamente el alcance de los daños.

Pero, pese a ese silencio, lo cierto es que, por primera vez en décadas, Rusia planea comenzar a importar gas, declaró el martes el portavoz del Kremlin, Dmitry Peskov. El domingo pasado, Putin admitió que estaba considerando prohibir también la exportación de diésel.

En muchas regiones se ha implementado el racionamiento de combustible, con largas filas de autos que se extienden durante horas a lo largo de las carreteras. Videos en redes sociales muestran a conductores atónitos ante las largas filas o maldiciendo por los surtidores vacíos y el aumento de los precios. El alcalde de la ciudad siberiana de Irkutsk incluso ordenó la instalación de baños portátiles para quienes esperaban en la fila.

La crisis del combustible, sin precedentes para una nación que es uno de los mayores productores de energía del mundo, ha hecho que la invasión a gran escala de Ucrania por parte de Moscú sea más palpable para los ciudadanos rusos de a pie que pocos otros acontecimientos en la guerra, que ya lleva cinco años de duración.

Esto provocó una inusual admisión por parte de Putin , quien reconoció que “persisten los problemas tanto para los automovilistas como para las empresas” y que “todavía hay colas en las gasolineras y no siempre es fácil encontrar el tipo de gasolina adecuado”. Insistió en que la escasez “no es crítica” y es “temporal”. Pero esas palabras no parecen tranquilizar a los automovilistas que hacen colas, según se aprecia en videos difundidos fuera de los canales estatales de difusión. “En la televisión dicen una cosa, y en la realidad es otra. … Hay colas por todas partes”, comentó un conductor, negándose a revelar su nombre completo por motivos de seguridad.

El presidente ucraniano, Volodimir Zelenski se hizo eco el lunes de ese sentimiento, escribiendo en Telegram que “Putin puede seguir afirmando en TV que supuestamente tiene todo bajo control”.

Pero los rusos pueden ver que la guerra “ha llegado al punto en que incluso un estado petrolero, una gasolinera, como se solía llamar a Rusia, ahora se enfrenta a la escasez de gas”, dijo el líder de Kiev.

Según un recuento de AP, Ucrania ha denunciado más de 50 ataques contra refinerías de petróleo, depósitos, terminales y otras infraestructuras energéticas en Rusia y la península de Crimea, anexionada ilegalmente, desde marzo. La cantidad de petróleo crudo que Rusia procesó para convertirlo en combustible en junio disminuyó un 25% con respecto al año anterior, hasta los 3,95 millones de barriles diarios, el nivel más bajo en más de dos décadas, según Gary Peach, analista de mercados petroleros de Energy Intelligence.

“Los cortes son extraordinarios”, comentó el experto.

Kiev describe los ataques como una campaña para presionar a Moscú a fin de que ponga fin a la guerra, socavando la logística militar y las líneas de suministro, al tiempo que lleva la guerra ante los ojos de la población rusa. Ucrania intenta además aislar Crimea, anexionada a Ucrania ilegalmente en 2014, con varios bombardeos que la han dejado sin naftas.

Tehran is preparing for the July 9 burial of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, more than four months after his death, as authorities mobilize the Basij militia and mount a massive security operation ahead of what is expected to be a «historic» turnout.

The lengthy delay to the funeral has raised questions about how Khamenei’s remains have been preserved, as Islamic tradition, anaylsts say, generally calls for prompt burial and discourages chemical embalming.

«The mechanism is almost certainly refrigerated cold storage, not embalming, as Islam bars chemical embalming,» counterterrorism expert Dr. Mohammed Omar told Fox News Digital.

MOJTABA KHAMENEI USING ‘BIN LADEN TEMPLATE’ TO SURVIVE, LEARNED FROM ABBOTTABAD: ANALYST

«Shia law allows delayed burial and preservation by cold in exceptional cases, and a clerical exemption for a Supreme Leader is easy to get,» he added.

«Iran’s forensic morgues already hold bodies for months, so four months in freezing is not exotic. That is what ‘religious and legal standards’ cover,» Mohammed said.

Operation Epic Fury began on Feb. 28 with a targeted U.S. strike that killed Khamenei at his compound in Tehran. He had ruled the Islamic Republic for 36 years.

«There may not be much of a body to present. Khamenei was killed by a bunker-penetration strike, and others killed with him were recovered weeks later and identified by DNA,» Mohammed explained.

«A regime holding an intact body does not cancel the farewell, shift the burial site repeatedly, and confirm that he can be buried only days out.

«It reads less like reverence and more like remains they could preserve but not display,» he said.

WAVE OF ATTACKS ON IRAN’S IRGC RAISES QUESTIONS ABOUT RENEWED KURDISH INSURGENCY

In this picture obtained from Iran’s ISNA news agency, Mojtaba Khamenei (C), son of Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, walks along a street in Tehran on May 31, 2019. (Hamid FOROUTAN / ISNA / AFP via Getty Images)

With that, Iranian authorities are portraying the funeral as both a farewell to the leader and a show of strength under the slogan «We Must Avenge.»

According to Iranian state media, Yaqoub Soleimani, deputy for cultural and educational affairs at the Martyrs Foundation and one of the funeral’s organizers, said Wednesday the ceremony would be conducted «with full grandeur.»

Soleimani said a turnout of 1 million people would make the event «a historical occasion» and «a national epic in the memory of the Islamic Republic of Iran.»

The schedule starts with public viewings Saturday and Sunday in Tehran. A funeral procession is scheduled for July 6, where local authorities estimate 15 million to 20 million people could attend.

Another procession is planned the following day in Qom, one of Shiite Islam’s holiest cities.

«The numbers the regime is putting out — up to 20 million mourners in Tehran, 35 million nationwide, more than 90 countries represented, 14,000 journalists credentialed — are not logistics,» Mohammed, of the George Washington Program on Extremism, said.

«They are the message. Tehran is spending everything it has to project continuity and strength because after the war both are in question.»

IRAN’S UNPRECEDENTED ‘WHOLE-REGIME’ DELEGATION AT US DEAL TALKS SIGNALS ONE GOAL: EXPERT

Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military personnel are walking along Enghelab (Revolution) Avenue as an Iranian Kheibar Surface-to-Surface missile is being unveiled during the Ela Beit Al-Moghaddas (Al-Aqsa Mosque) military rally in Tehran, Iran, on November 24, 2023. The IRGC is unveiling two new missiles during the rally. (Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

According to Iran International, Tehran is also preparing a massive security operation for the funeral.

«The Basij and the IRGC running this is the story, not a detail,» Mohammed said.

«The Basij is coordinating logistics — highways turned into parking, each Tehran district assigned a province, five public holidays declared — and the Guard has crowd control.

«This is a mobilization dressed as a funeral. The same apparatus organizing the grief this week is the apparatus that put down the January protests and denied funerals to the families of the people it killed then. American readers should hold those two facts next to each other,» he added.

While senior Iraqi officials will attend the funeral, representation from other major powers will be limited.

Although Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian personally invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, India will instead send a lower-level official delegation.

Reports on June 30 also confirmed that Georgian President Mikheil Kavelashvili will attend the ceremony.

«No major power is sending its top leader,» Mohammed said.

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«For a regime that claims to lead a front stretching from Beirut to Sanaa, a regional turnout at its founder-successor’s funeral is the isolation showing through the pageantry.

«For Washington, it is a useful readout: the war left Tehran’s axis smaller and more regional than the regime advertises,» he added.

A coalition of blue states and jurisdictions is suing the Trump administration over new Medicaid work requirements designed to prevent fraud, arguing the policy unlawfully restricts access to health care coverage.

The lawsuit, filed by at least 25 states and the District of Columbia, alleges the newly implemented Interim Final Rule (IFR) — issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) — violates federal law and departs from Congress’ original intent and early CMS guidance. 

The IFR requires certain individuals to provide documentation proving they are exempt from Medicaid rules requiring enrollees to work, volunteer or attend school due to severe medical conditions. 

Before the rule was issued in early June, highly vulnerable Medicaid recipients were set to be automatically exempt from such requirements. Agencies would have granted those exemptions by reviewing existing health records, without requiring individuals to complete additional paperwork ahead of the requirements taking effect in January 2027.

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The lawsuit names Dr. Mehmet Oz, administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), which issued the IFR, and Robert F. Kennedy Jr., secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), as defendants.

Oz previously argued that such guardrails are designed to prevent programs from being «defrauded into a turmoil,» adding that able-bodied enrollees receiving American tax dollars should contribute to society. 

«If you can work, you should get up and work,» Oz said. 

«If we put guardrails around these programs, we’ll allow them to thrive. I’m here because I love Medicaid. The president has already said he loves and cherishes Medicaid and Medicare. … We cannot allow these programs to be defrauded into a turmoil that they cannot pull up from. If we love these programs, we will make the difficult decisions.»

The new rule would require able-bodied individuals to work 20 hours a week, volunteer, or pursue education while enrolled in free healthcare coverage.

Fox News reached out to the White House and HHS for comment. 

FED AUDIT, EMERGENCY MEDICAID UNDERCUT DEMS ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HEALTH COVERAGE

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during an interview. ((Photo by Jason Mendez/Getty Images))

The plaintiffs involve California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin and Kentucky. 

«People with disabilities, patients in the middle of cancer treatment, or those struggling with another serious or complex health condition, shouldn’t be at risk of losing the care that helps maintain their health,» the suit stated. 

REPUBLICANS PRAISE ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL’S’ WORK REQUIREMENT FOR MEDICAID: ‘WE’VE GOT TO GET BACK TO WORK’

According to the suit, CMS’s own projections estimate that 2.3 million enrollees will lose Medicaid coverage in the first year alone. 

The agency also estimates that 7% of enrollees who are working or qualify for an exemption will lose coverage due to confusing paperwork requirements, strict deadlines or missing documentation, according to the document. 

Beginning in 2028, enrollees who do not have immediate medical records on file would be limited to a single opportunity to submit a «self-attestation» form declaring, under penalty of perjury, that they are too sick to work.

Under previous guidance, enrollees were allowed to use self-attestation multiple times as their medical needs evolved.

An examination bed sits inside a medical clinic. (AP Photo/Matt York)

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In addition, plaintiffs said the new rules would force states to abandon automated systems they have already invested in and instead build more complex and costly manual review processes. 

As the Aug. 31 deadline to mail notices to Medicaid enrollees approaches, the plaintiffs are seeking a temporary stay and a preliminary injunction to block CMS and HHS from enforcing the rules.