Russia halts chemical exports after Ukraine hits its rocket fuel plants

Russia has banned exports of benzene, toluene, xylenes and phenol for three months, saying it needs to keep its own factories supplied with the industrial chemicals, the government announced on Nov. 2.

The ban, signed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, covers coal-derived and petroleum benzene, toluene, ortho-xylene, para-xylene and phenol shipped outside the Eurasian Economic Union, the Russia-led trade bloc that includes Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. Transit shipments, humanitarian aid and supplies for Russian operations on the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard are exempt. The government did not say what caused the supply problem or how large it is.

In its announcement, the government listed civilian uses for the chemicals, including paints and coatings for the automotive, aviation, shipbuilding and rail industries, food packaging, flooring, cable insulation and medicine. All six are also basic feedstocks for the wider chemical industry. Toluene, for example, is the raw material for TNT, the standard military explosive used in artillery shells and bombs.

Russia’s government has not linked the export ban to the war. It follows months of Ukrainian drone and missile strikes on Russian chemical, refining and propellant plants, many of which Ukraine’s General Staff says feed missile and rocket production.

Over the past two weeks alone, Ukraine reported hitting the Tolyattikauchuk synthetic rubber plant in Samara region for the third time this year, as well as the Voronezhsintezkauchuk rubber plant, both of which Kyiv says produce rubbers used in solid rocket propellant for tactical and ballistic missiles. On the night of Oct. 31, Ukrainian drones and Neptune missiles struck the Kamensky Combine in Rostov region, which makes solid propellant for Uragan, Smerch and Tornado-S rocket launchers, and President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed the strike the next day. Earlier in October, Ukraine said it hit the AVISMA plant in Perm region and a chemical plant in Tver region that makes a fuel component for Kh-55 and Kh-101 cruise missiles.

Much of Russia’s petroleum benzene, toluene and xylene comes from oil refineries and petrochemical complexes, including Rosneft’s Ryazan refinery, Slavneft-YANOS in Yaroslavl, the Moscow refinery, Sibur’s ZapSibNeftekhim in Tobolsk and Uralorgsintez in Perm region. Ukraine has also struck Russian refineries repeatedly this year, and Moscow has banned gasoline exports since the spring and restricted diesel exports, with the gasoline ban now extended to Jan. 31, 2027.