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Chinese tanker in front of the Kosmino oil port in the Russian Far East

Photo: Tatiana Meel / REUTERS

Russia has been waging a war of aggression against Ukraine for more than two years. While horrendous military spending is putting a strain on the state treasury, the Kremlin has recorded unprecedented income for the past year. Crude oil sales to India are said to have brought in a record $37 billion for the Kremlin in 2023. This emerges from a new analysis by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), which is available to the news channel “CNN”.

The study also concludes that some of India's crude oil was refined and then exported to the United States as oil products worth more than $1 billion. Accordingly, India has increased its purchases of Russian crude oil by more than 13 times its pre-war volumes - a flow of payments that ultimately benefits Moscow. India is replacing the decline in crude oil purchases by Western buyers that were reduced by sanctions over Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the analysis said.

While sales of Russian crude oil to India are not sanctioned because they are legitimate, an expert study of shipping routes suggests that deliveries are partly blocked by Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" of crude oil tankers. The fleet was created by Moscow specifically to maximize the Kremlin's profits while concealing who and how it trades.

Germany also imports Russian oil via India

According to CREA estimates, the United States was the largest buyer of India's refined products made from Russian crude oil last year. The study shows that transactions worth $1.3 billion were made between the beginning of December 2022 and the end of 2023. The organization's estimates are based on publicly available shipping and energy data.

Germany has also imported Russian oil via India in the past. This is suggested by figures from the Federal Statistical Office. Imports of petroleum products from India increased more than twelvefold in the first seven months of last year compared to the same period last year. Their value increased from just 37 million euros in the first seven months of 2022 to 451 million euros from January to July 2023.

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