The UK is supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine some may say indirectly, but does it really matter? Doesn’t it seem somewhat duplicitous! Whilst Vladimir Zelenskiy was addressing parliament to a standing ovation, the British government was arranging for Russian oil shipments to come via Turkey and India.
Russia has been at war with Ukraine and its allies for over two years now. Alone against the superpower of NATO supporting Ukraine with funding, weapons and special tactical units deployed on the ground.
Obfuscation – the War in Ukraine in numbers
According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, so far NATO has supplied over a staggering $278 billion dollars in aid to Ukraine. So how has Russia been able to combat that power of resources, with sanctions, without loans and still function as a proposering state?
Well the short answer is No! This is because countries like Russia and China have not succumbed to western imperialism; There economies are not built on the same debt that the western nations are. What that means is although the US confiscated billions of Russian dollars in US banks, and the boycotts of all major US based business from Russia, the Russian economy kept moving forward.
Have the Sanctions against Russia worked?
So did the sanctions against Russia work at all? Apart from a short blip, the Russian economy has largely been unimpacted. Predominantly because it has an economy built on its own natural resources, and not on debt.
We all know what how debt is crippling to growth, if you have a bank loan and don’t pay it, the law literally destroys any potential you may have to grow. But when you are debt free, its liberating. And in a simple way it is the same here.
To offer perspective for this example if we replace Russia with a country like Italy or Poland, the reaction would have been crippling to the economy. They would have been ourgae, food shortages, no fuel and the currency would have collapsed ( imagine it wasn’t trading in the Euro’s). That’s the impact the sanctions should have.
The main revenue source for the Kremlin is oil exports worldwide. And although sanctions, did impact their earnings in the short term, in the long term they remained consistent and high.
While Russian oil exports in terms of euros have decreased since the invasion of Ukraine, the total weight of oil exports has stayed consistent, similar to levels before the invasion.
Sanctions from the UK, the European Union, and United States were supposed to cripple Russia’s oil revenue, well that’s what we were told anyway, but they have remained at record highs. But oil has been flowing into UK petrol pumps fuelling your Ubers and busses on the streets of England.
Revenue earned by the Kremlin
If we look at the revenue earned by the Kremlin from Russian oil exports, particularly the three-month average, it’s at its highest level since May 2022. This shows how little impact the sanctions have had.
The report by a campaign group Global Witness has estimated that throughout 2023, about 5.2m barrels of refined petroleum products produced from Russian crude oil were imported to the UK, with jet fuel accounting for most of the imports (4.6m barrels). That means; one in 20 UK flights is powered by Russian jet fuel and the buyers include Shell and BP.
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How much oil the UK imports from Russia in 2024?
Before the invasion, the main recipients were the US, The European Union, and China. After the sanctions how much oil the UK imports from Russia in 2024.
Since the war in Ukraine China, India, and Turkey have become the primary recipients. With India and Turkey acting like traders for Russian oil. This is not a covert operation, it is there for everyone to see.
Now, oil travels from Russia to places like India and Turkey for refinement. After being refining, the oil can be legally sent to the UK, bypassing sanctions. Which is what has been happening, for instance, oil exports from India to the UK have significantly increased since the invasion.
How the UK is supporting Russia’s war in Ukraine
These oil products, such as jet fuel and diesel, often originated from Russia but are now routed through India before reaching the UK. This method allows British companies to circumvent sanctions and continue profiting from oil imports. That isnt even with a discount, we are paying a premium for it.
It is doing so well that Russia’s government has ordered companies to reduce oil output in the second quarter to ensure they meet a production target of 9 million barrels per day in line with OPEC’s targets.
So for all that suffering and price inflation British people endured during the last 18 months to stop funding Russia, was literally all a hoax.
Thus the likes of the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak & Keir Starmer‘s Labour donors have been profiting from the sanctions and Russian oil exports, whilst, the British people have been struggled during the same period on less than one meal a day.
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