India's crude oil imports from Russia averaged 2.07 million barrels per day (bpd) in July, up 12 percent from a year earlier, while China imported 1.76 million bpd in the same period, Reuters reported on Thursday.
Russian crude oil accounted for a record 44 percent of total imports to India last month. For comparison, in 2021, i.e. before the full-scale Russia's attack on UkraineRussian oil accounted for only 2 percent of annual imports.
According to a report published by Reuters, the record 2.07 million barrels per day is 4.2 percent more than in June and 12 percent more than in July last year.
Data from the Beijing customs service indicate that the import of raw materials from Russia amounted to 1.76 million barrels per day.
China and India are Russia's main partners
After Moscow launched a full-scale war against Ukraine in February 2022 India and China have become the main markets for Russian raw materials subject to sanctions, mainly by the EU and USA. These restrictions were intended to cut off financing for Russia's war effort. Despite pressure from the US and Europe, both countries refused to comply with Western sanctions on Russian imports.
Both China and India have also refrained from condemning the Russian invasion or directly blaming Russia for what Moscow has previously called a special military operation.
A few weeks ago, the Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi met with Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
The head of the Indian government has been in Poland since Wednesday, where he met with the prime minister on Thursday. Donald Tuskand then in the Belweder Palace – with the president Andrzej DudaOn Friday, Modi will meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev.
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