Sanctions against Russia like a “tiger without fangs”

Tigers do not understand what the word “sanctions” means

Regarding the appropriateness of Western sanctions against Russia, an oil tracker says that, “These sanctions remain a "tiger without fangs"…”

Despite Western sanctions on Russian oil, it enters European markets through an alternative market, while information and figures from European energy centers indicate that India imports Russian oil, refines it and re-exports it to Europe, notes ‘Al-Jazeera’.

Since the start of Russia's war with Ukraine over a year ago, the European Union has imposed several packages of sanctions on the Russian oil sector.

The Kpler data analysis center in the Austrian capital Vienna believes that European measures were not effective due to the flow of Russian refined oil to the countries of the Union, which indicates that India is looking at the angle of its purely economic interests away from discussing energy security and the Ukrainian war, and also does not consider itself part of the “political game”.

Victor Katona, an oil supply tracker at the Kepler Center, told Al Jazeera Net that before Russia's war with Ukraine, Russian oil exports to India accounted for only 1% of India's needs, indicating that it now fluctuates between 40% and 45%. . , and that India imported more than two million barrels of Russian oil per day in April 2023.

The expert adds that the data from the Kepler Center show a significant increase in India's exports of gasoline, diesel fuel and other derivatives towards the EU countries in recent months, adding that New Delhi does not have huge oil reserves, which means a significant increase in Russian oil imports. .

Also, the Finnish Center for Energy Research CREA (CREA) confirms that Western countries have imported over the past 12 months of oil products worth 42 billion euros from Russian oil through several countries, primarily India.

The report indicates that the European Union was the largest importer of petroleum products from these countries in the specified period, the value of its imports amounted to 17.7 billion euros, in second place was Australia with a value of 8 billion euros, the United States with 6.6 billion, then the United Kingdom with a value of 5 billion Japan with 4.8 billion euros.

According to the center, diesel fuel is leading in imported oil products by 29%, aviation fuel by 23%, gas oil by 13%.

Regarding the appropriateness of Western sanctions against Russia, Victor Katona, an oil tracker at the Kepler Center, says that these sanctions remain a "tiger without fangs" if they do not cover Asian countries, especially India and China, stressing that "if the West wants to hurt the Russian oil industry, the only way to do that is to prevent India and China from buying Russian oil.”

The expert concludes that the problem for Western countries, whether within the European Union, the seven largest countries of the G7 (G7) or the United States, is that an attempt to prevent India or China from buying Russian oil “will lead to an increase in oil prices even up to 200 dollars per barrel.

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