Sainsbury's has pledged to no longer sell Russian diesel at any of its petrol stations across the country, as they stand united with the people of Ukraine.
The supermarket chain has confirmed that they will phase Russian diesel out all of their 315 forecourts across the UK by the end of the year, following the countries invasion of Ukraine.
Derbyshire Live reports that the move comes after the Big Six grocer received pressure from its customers to ban the use of Russian oil. It follows their decision to pull multiple Russian products from store shelves earlier this year.
Despite the recent announcement, a spokesperson has said that it is a much more "complex" issue since they are the third largest oil producer in the world. The decision to phase out their oil could lead to even higher prices at the fuel pumps.
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 remain historically high, figures show, triggered largely by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 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, Kent Live reports.
There are wide-ranging financial sanctions and restrictions taken by the West following Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine.
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.
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