India Enriches Russia By Selling Its Oil To The U.S.: CNN

Russia is entering its third year of war in Ukraine with a significant cash influx, bolstered by a record $37 billion in crude oil sales to India last year, according to new analysis.

India increased its purchases of Russian crude by over 13 times its pre-war amounts. I Photo: Indian Oil

Some of the crude was refined by India and then exported to the US as oil products worth more than $1 billion, as reported by Nick Paton Walsh and Florence Davey-Atlee for CNN.

This flow of payments, ultimately benefiting Moscow, stems from India increasing its purchases of Russian crude by over 13 times its pre-war amounts, according to analysis by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), exclusively shared with CNN.

It represents US strategic partner India stepping in to replace crude purchases by Western buyers, reduced by sanctions over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the analysis said.

While Russian crude sales to India are not subject to sanctions and are entirely legitimate, an examination of shipping routes by experts suggests this large volume of shipments might involve the so-called “shadow fleet” of crude tankers.

The aforementioned was allegedly specially created by Moscow to try to disguise whom it is trading with and how, and to maximize the Kremlin’s profits.

CNN witnessed what is likely a part of that complex trade at the Greek port of Gythio earlier this month. Two oil tankers – one massive, the other smaller – sidled up next to each other for a ship-to-ship transfer.

A satellite image taken on March 20 shows two tankers conducting a ship-to-ship transfer of Russian fuel oil off the southern coast of Greece. Transactions like these have surged in recent months, data show.

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