Refinery production figures, export contracts and tanker routing data are now classified in Russia, under a decree President Vladimir Putin signed Monday, Reuters reported. The restrictions took effect immediately upon signing, and the government has 10 days to specify exactly which product codes fall under the new secrecy rules.

The decree restricts public reporting on refining volumes at Russian plants. It also covers contract details across the export chain — product names, quantities, prices, buyers, sellers and payment terms. Tanker routes used to move crude and products to market are likewise off-limits to public disclosure.

The Kremlin attributes the measures to what it calls unfriendly actions by Washington and its allies. No further justification was offered in the reporting.

For downstream watchers, the immediate effect is the loss of the most basic yardstick of Russian refinery performance: plant-level throughput. Until now, runs data — however patchy — allowed analysts to track crude processing levels, infer export availability of diesel and fuel oil, and gauge the impact of Ukrainian drone strikes on specific refining assets. That visibility now ends at the state border of disclosure.

The 10-day window for defining covered product codes leaves a short period of ambiguity. Until the government publishes its list, traders and analysts will not know whether specific grades, contract types or logistical data points remain reportable. Companies and agencies that previously published Russian refining statistics — including international data providers and price-reporting agencies — will need legal guidance on what they can still carry.

Export contract secrecy compounds the problem. Buyer identities, volumes and pricing terms were already opaque for much of Russian trade since the G7 price cap and the shift to non-Western buyers, but scattered reporting on discounts, payment currencies and counterparties had kept a partial picture alive. The decree shuts that window as well.

Tanker route classification targets the tracking layer. Commercial ship-tracking services have relied on AIS signals and satellite imagery to follow Russian crude and products from Baltic, Black Sea and Pacific terminals to their destinations. The decree does not disable the transponders, but it makes the resulting analysis legally sensitive inside Russia and gives Moscow grounds to pressure entities that publish it.

The watch item is the government's product-code list, due within 10 days of Monday's signing. Its breadth will determine whether Moscow is closing a narrow set of data or constructing a comprehensive wall around its hydrocarbon exports — and how the remaining independent estimates of Russian refining runs and export flows will be produced.