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Russia evading oil sanctions


The BBC did a report recently about how Russia is evading the sanctions intended to punish its invasion of Ukraine. 

Apparently, UK law allows that country to import refined petroleum products without regard to where the crude came from. This creates a neat loophole.  India (whose foreign policy is at best ambivalent on the subject of the war in Ukraine) imports the crude, refines it, and sells it to the UK.  

The BBC credits the Centre for Reseach o Energy and Clean Air (CREA) for the key research here. 

CREA's Europe-Russia policy analyst, Isaac Levi, is quoted saying, "The issue with this loophole is that it increases the demand for Russian crude and enables higher sales in terms of volume and pushing up their price as well, which increases the funds sent to the Kremlin's war chest."


Russian oil getting into UK via refinery loophole, reports claim (bbc.com)

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  1. HenryFebruary 16, 2024 at 5:38 AM

    Based on what you write here, it seems that the bad guys with respect to the oil sanctions are India and the UK, not Russia. Russia is avoiding the sanctions; India and the UK are evading them.

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