Sainsbury's has pledged that it will no longer sell Russian diesel at its petrol stations by the end of 2022 as it 'stands united' with the people of Ukraine. The ban would affect 315 of its forecourts across the country and comes following pressure from customers.
The supermarket giant has already stopped selling products that are solely sourced from Russia as part of wide-ranging financial sanctions and restrictions taken by the West following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine. But the company has acknowledged that supporting the ban on Russian oil is complex.
It comes amid pressure on retailers and energy firms to shake off their reliance on Russia for certain products after the country launched an assault on Ukraine in February. Russia is the third-biggest oil producer in the world behind Saudi Arabia and the United States.
Rhian Bartlett, food commercial director at Sainsbury's, said “We stand united with the people of Ukraine and have taken a range of steps to show our support – from helping to fund the humanitarian effort on the ground, to removing products from our stores which are 100% sourced from Russia.
“We have been working hard to reduce the amount of diesel we sell which comes from Russia since the early days of the conflict.
“This is a complex process but we are committed to working together with the rest of the UK fuel industry and Government to support the ban on Russian oil imports, which is due to take effect by the end of this year.”
Diesel and petrol prices continue to climb to new highs, figures show. Statistics from data firm Experian Catalist show diesel prices reached an average of 181.0p per litre on Wednesday, up from 180.9p a day earlier.
The average cost of a litre of petrol at UK forecourts on Wednesday was 168.2p. That was up from 167.6p per litre on Tuesday.
