Washington is slowly but steadily cutting the umbilical cord that links Russian oil to India—shipping. The US, on Friday, unleashed the largest sanctions package, partly directed at Sovcomflot, Russia’s state-owned shipping behemoth, and on 14 of its vessels, which are some of the biggest carriers of Russian oil to India on a regular basis.
Since January 2023, these newly-sanctioned tankers have transported around 68 cargoes to India, equivalent to around 6 per cent of the total Russian crude imports last year. That’s approximately 48 million barrels of oil, more than what Nigeria, a key crude oil supplier to India prior to the Ukraine war, supplied in 2023, according to calculations .