While Russia has become India’s “second-biggest” oil source since the start of the war in Ukraine, following its $25 per barrel discount to India and supply chain disruptions since the war, data collected by the Finnish think tank, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), also shows that India has been Russia’s eighth largest importer of fossil fuels, at 3.4 billion euros worth of imports since the beginning of the war.

Meanwhile, China and Germany rank as Russia’s primary importers of fossil fuels, at 12.6 billion and 12.1 billion euros, respectively, according to the CREA data. Italy and Netherlands come next, with 7.8 billion euros worth of imports each, with Turkey not too far behind at 6.7 billion. As a whole, 61 per cent of Russia’s fossil fuel exports between 24 February and 3 June went to the European Union, the CREA report added.