US imposes toughest sanctions ever on Russia making it difficult to sell cheap oil to India, New Delhi will …, Moscow to…

Russia exported 107 million tons of oil to China in 2023.

Washington: The United States has announced unprecedented sanctions on Russia’s energy industry. The Biden administration has imposed the toughest sanctions on Russia so far. This step has been taken to reduce the revenue Russia is getting for the war in Ukraine. This may reduce Russia’s oil sales to India.

Russia has sold large quantities of oil to China and India. Two special US allies – Japan and Britain – have also announced sanctions on Russia. More than 200 institutions and individuals have been banned in the new announcement. These include traders, insurance companies and oil tankers.

The sanctions come a day after US President Joe Biden announced $500 million in additional military aid for Ukraine, the South China Morning Post reported.

The sanctions add two of Russia’s most important oil producers and exporters – Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas – and their subsidiaries to the US Treasury Department’s sanctions list.

Will it affect India and China?

“We are exacerbating sanctions risks associated with Russia’s oil trade, including shipping and financing in support of Russia’s oil exports,” the US Treasury Department said in a statement. Experts say that if sanctions are properly implemented, Russia’s revenues could be reduced and costs could increase by billions of dollars every month. Its purpose is to help Ukraine by increasing the cost of continuing Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Ukraine war.

After the new sanctions, it will be interesting to see how much this will stop the biggest buyers of Russian oil. These buyers include countries such as China, India, Turkey and Brazil, which are buying record amounts of oil from Russia. Experts say that these countries can also defy these restrictions like the ban before. The main reason for this is transactions in non-dollar currency.

Russia exported 107 million tons of oil to China in 2023. China and Russia are transacting in their own currencies. India, the world’s biggest importer of Russian crude oil, is also making payments in rupees and other non-dollar terms. These nullify Western sanctions imposed on Russia. In such a situation, the world’s experts are observing closely how much effect the new ban will have.