Скачать или смотреть The Kremlin has never been richer – thanks to a US strategic partner - The News Bites

Russia's federal revenues ballooned to a record $320 billion in 2023, thanks to a record $37 billion of crude oil sales to India last year.

This flow of payments, ultimately to Moscow’s benefit, comes from India increasing its purchases of Russian crude by over 13 times its pre-war amounts, according to the analysis by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

The huge volume of shipments might involve the so-called "shadow fleet" of crude tankers, specially created by Moscow to try to disguise who it is trading with and how, and maximize the Kremlin's profits.

Dozens of similar transfers occur each week in the Laconian Gulf of Greece, a convenient waypoint en route to the Suez Canal and Asian markets, analysts say.

The United States led a coalition of countries in late 2022 that agreed to a “price cap,” undertaking not to buy Russian crude above $60 a barrel.

The US Treasury rolled out a new package of sanctions against ships and companies suspected of helping move Russian crude in violation of US sanctions.

The Kremlin's federal revenues are at an all-time high, and Russia is entering its third year of war in Ukraine with an unprecedented amount of cash in government coffers.

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