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Russian official warns fuel protests in EU, UK are 'just starting'

Kirill Dmitriev, head of Russia's Direct Investment Fund, has commented on fuel protests across the UK and EU, saying they are only beginning and blaming energy policies. Protests in Ireland have led to 600 filling stations suspending operations.

By Tertius News AI Desk 1 outlet · 1 distinct · 2 articles Version 1 Coverage Apr 11–12, 2026 Published Aug 13

Lead

As fuel-related protests spread across Europe, a senior Russian official has weighed in on the unrest, warning that the demonstrations are only the beginning. Kirill Dmitriev, the Russian president’s special representative and CEO of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said on social media that the protests are a result of "wrong energy decisions" by European and British bureaucrats, specifically citing their move to decouple from Russian and nuclear energy.

Coverage Comparison

Dmitriev’s remarks were reported by Russia’s state news agency TASS in two separate dispatches, dated April 11 and April 12. Both articles focus on his commentary rather than on independent reporting of the protests themselves. The first piece, published April 11, quotes Dmitriev as saying "fuel protests erupt across the UK and EU, with Ireland leading the way," and includes his paraphrase of a famous adage: "You can fool all the people some of the time, you can fool some of the people all of the time, but you cannot fool all the people all of the time." The second article, dated a day later, carries a more forward-looking warning: "Fuel protests are just starting in the EU and UK." Neither article provides independent verification of the protest events, instead attributing all details to Dmitriev’s posts on X and to "reports" of the unrest.

Key Claims

Protests across the UK and EU, with Ireland particularly affected: According to TASS, Dmitriev said fuel protests have erupted across the UK and EU, and that Ireland is "leading the way." The agency separately reported that demonstrators in Ireland had been blocking the country’s only oil refinery, ports, and highways for five days.

Filling stations suspending operations in Ireland: TASS reports that as a result of the blockades, 600 out of 1,600 filling stations in Ireland had to suspend operations. This figure appears in the second article and is not attributed to any official Irish source; it is presented as a reported fact.

France joins the protests: In the first TASS dispatch, Dmitriev is quoted as commenting on news that France had joined the protests. The article notes that columns of truckers began blocking major highways in France, though this detail is presented without additional sourcing.

Prediction of further unrest: Dmitriev warned that "farmers will be the first wave, followed by industrial workers as deindustrialization accelerates," suggesting that the protests will expand beyond the current participants. This is a forward-looking statement and has not been independently verified.

Perspectives

Dmitriev’s viewpoint: Kirill Dmitriev places the blame squarely on EU and UK energy policy, arguing that the decision to decouple from Russian energy and from nuclear power has led to rising fuel prices and shortages. He frames the protests as a natural consequence of these policies, and suggests they will intensify as deindustrialization takes hold.

European context: The Russian official’s comments come amid a broader backdrop of energy price volatility in Europe, which has been exacerbated by the conflict in Ukraine and subsequent sanctions. However, the TASS reports do not include reactions from European officials or independent analysis of the underlying causes of the protests, so it is not possible to assess the validity of Dmitriev’s claims within these articles alone.

Sourcing and verification: All claims in this article are derived from two TASS dispatches, which are themselves based on Dmitriev’s social media posts and unverified reports of the protests. While the coverage is consistent in its attribution, no independent confirmation of the protest details—such as the number of affected filling stations or the scale of blockades—has been provided by other outlets in the material reviewed.

How this outlet told it

A framing line is our reading of that outlet's own text — an interpretation, not a quotation and not a fact we assert. Check it against what the outlet published.

TASS — English as of Apr 11, 2026, 8:15 PM UTC

Framing: Our reading European protests against rising energy prices — critical

Facts Included:

Kirill Dmitriev commented on European protests against rising energy prices
Fuel protests erupted across the UK and EU, with Ireland leading the way
France joined the protests against rising fuel prices
Truckers blocked major highways in France

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TASS — English as of Apr 12, 2026, 2:45 PM UTC

Framing: Our reading Protests against fuel shortages gaining momentum — warning

Facts Included:

Kirill Dmitriev warned that protests against fuel shortages are gaining momentum
Protests in Ireland resulted in 600 out of 1,600 filling stations suspending operations
Demonstrators in Ireland blocked the country's only oil refinery, ports, and highways
Kirill Dmitriev's comment on deindustrialization accelerating

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What was claimed, and who backed it

AI-extracted; can misattribute a claim — see Methodology.

Each row is one claim, attributed to the outlet whose wording states it most clearly. Confidence rates how directly the source text states the claim — explicit and unhedged rates high; hedged, pieced-together, or internally inconsistent statements rate lower. It does not measure whether the claim is true. Status counts the distinct outlets we found asserting it — so a single-source claim can still show high confidence, and a multi-source claim can show medium. Every one of those outlets is named beside the status, so you can check the count against the list. For claims extracted before we began storing that list, the row says so: it names the outlet the claim is quoted from and states that we have not recorded which outlets backed it. Outlets wrote at different times, so a figure that evolves — a casualty count, for example — can legitimately differ between rows; check the "as of" time next to each claim's source.

Claim	Confidence	Status
ClaimFuel protests erupted across the UK and EU, with Ireland leading the way. Kirill Dmitriev commented on these European protests against rising energy prices.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via TASS — English as of Apr 11, 2026, 8:15 PM UTC
ClaimFrance joined the protests against rising fuel prices. Truckers blocked major highways in France.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via TASS — English as of Apr 11, 2026, 8:15 PM UTC
ClaimProtests in Ireland resulted in 600 out of 1,600 filling stations suspending operations. Demonstrators in Ireland blocked the country's only oil refinery, ports, and highways protesting against rising fuel prices.	ConfidenceHigh	StatusSingle-source via TASS — English as of Apr 12, 2026, 2:45 PM UTC
ClaimKirill Dmitriev warned that protests against fuel shortages are gaining momentum and will be followed by industrial workers as deindustrialization accelerates.	ConfidenceMedium	StatusSingle-source via TASS — English as of Apr 12, 2026, 2:45 PM UTC

Transparency & Audit Trail

1 outlet · 1 distinct · 2 articles consulted: TASS — English 4 claims extracted Version 1 Written 2026-08-13