A pro-Kremlin youth group is staging a picket near oil companies' offices in Moscow on Wednesday demanding lower gasoline prices and suggesting that dissatisfied drivers tie red ribbons to their cars and not fill up at stations with high prices.
Activists of the Young Guard, the youth wing of the ruling United Russia party, are picketing the offices of LUKoil, Rosneft, TNK-BP, Tatneft and MTK, its press service said.
The activists are holding posters saying "More expensive gasoline means more expensive life!", "Once you've promised - cut it!", "We have the FAS for you!" and empty fuel canisters.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has ordered the country's federal competition watchdog, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) to investigate fuel price rises and asked Gazprom Neft and TNK-BP to cut prices. The FAS has initiated proceedings against Rosneft, LUKoil and Gazprom Neft for diesel and jet fuel overpricing in late 2010 and early 2011.
"Prices are falling, but not sufficiently," Timur Prokopenko, chief coordinator of the Young Guards, told RIA Novosti.
He said that the Young Guards had monitored prices in more than 50 regions of the country following Putin's orders to the oil giants.
"We've detected an unreasonable overpricing of gasoline, which can be calculated quite easily - the cost of raw materials, excise and tax duties, refining and transportation, wholesale and retail mark-ups. It is the mark-up where suppliers are adding unreasonable overpricing," he said.
The Young Guard plans to present the results of its monitoring to the oil companies and demand explanations as to why they have not cut prices despite Putin's orders.
MOSCOW, February 16 (RIA Novosti)
