Sanctions fail to stem oil and gas profits fuelling Putin’s war

WESTERN sanctions on Russian oil and gas exports are not working, with Kremlin shipments finding record new expanded markets in China, India and Turkey.

The Russian state has been making more money from its oil and gas in the past three months than in any comparable period since the early days of the Ukraine invasion.

In a blow to the supposed effectiveness of Western curbs, the statistics showed that in the three months to April, Russia made a monthly average of £10.4billion from oil and gas revenues.

This means that in spite of the myriad of sanctions imposed on fossil fuel exports from Russia since February 2022, the country is still making significant sums from them.

That in turn allows them to fuel Vladimir Putin’s relentless war machine against Ukraine.

Experts say this is in part because rather than preventing Russia from exporting oil, gas and coal, the sanctions have simply changed the geography of the global fossil fuels business.

The figures come amid elevated oil prices and growing concerns that sanctions on Russia are simply failing to prevent the country earning money and waging war on Ukraine.

Blood-soaked

Before the invasion, the world’s biggest recipients of Russian oil exports were the European Union, the US and China.

Since then, the UK, US and EU have all banned the import of crude oil or refined products from Russia.

G7 nations have also introduced a price cap which aims to prevent any Western companies – from shipping firms to insurers – from assisting with any Russian oil exports for anything more than $60 a barrel.

But the figures show Russia continues to export just as much oil as it did before the invasion of Ukraine and the imposition of the price cap – just to different markets.

The top three destinations for Russian oil have become China, India and Turkey.

The UK now imports considerably more oil and oil products from the Middle East than before, making it more reliant on the Gulf.

But some Russian fossil fuel products are still being exported to the UK, albeit indirectly, because the sanctions imposed by western nations do not cover oil products refined elsewhere.

However, earlier this week it was announced that Britain is to build Europe’s first facility for producing advanced nuclear fuel.

It is an attempt to bolster energy security and squeeze Russia out of the lucrative export market. Prime

Minister Rishi Sunak said: “Building our own uranium-enrichment plant is essential if we want to prise Putin’s blood-soaked hands off Europe’s energy market.

“Russia has been the sole provider of this powerful nuclear fuel for too long.

“This marks the latest step in pushing him out of the energy market entirely.”

He added: “The wider future of

British nuclear remains a critical national endeavour – guaranteeing nuclear and energy security and reducing energy bills for Brits.”

In recent months, Ukraine has specifically started targeting Russian oil facilities in an attempt to reduce its ability to export.

And it has had some successes with a number of Russian refineries hit and badly damaged with long-range drone strikes.