Oil supplies to India increased to 40% since Ukraine war: Russia

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oil supplies from Europe to India and China after the Western countries enforced economic sanctions against it over the Ukraine war. Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The America-led Western countries hit Russia with a slew of sanctions including a European Union embargo on its seaborne oil deliveries.

The Russian deputy prime minister Moscow used to supply close to 40 to 45% of oil and oil products to Europe. The supply has come down to 4 to 5% of total exports this year. However, in a televised address, he said Russia has pivoted towards other buyers, including India and China.

"China -- whose share (of oil exports) has grown to 45-50 percent -- and India have become our main partners in the current situation," Novak was quoted as saying by the news agency AFP. He said India has become a major buyer of Russian oil since the Ukraine war. He claimed over the past two years, "the total share of supplies to India has increased to about 40 percent." There had been concerns in the Western countries about India undermining the sanctions.

Earlier this year, union external affairs minister S Jaishankar defended India's Russian imports saying India's trade with Russia was lower than that of the European countries. "I don't think people should read more into it other than the legitimate expectations of any trading country to increase its trade," the minister had said. India has been buying Russian crude oil and selling the refined product to European countries.

Earlier this year, Jaishankar had defended this decision. "Look at EU Council regulations, Russian crude is substantially transformed in the third country and not treated as Russian anymore. I would urge you to look at Council's Regulation 833/2014," the external