Germany is outmaneuvering its own sanctions policy against Moscow and is receiving the Eurasian nation's crude through India, a Hamburg-based newspaper has reported.
Despite the EU embargo on Russian oil, Germany appears to continue to import Moscow's hydrocarbons using workarounds, German publication Spiegel stated.
Moreover, the media outlet mentioned that since the start of 2023, the volume of oil that reached Germany via India in the form of petroleum products has increased many times over.
Likewise, according to the Federal Statistical Office of Germany, German imports of petroleum products from India during the January-July period of 2022 increased by more than 12 times compared to the same period in 2021.
Berlin mainly buys gas oil, which is used for the production of diesel and heating oil. In 2023, Germany spent €451 million on this - 1,100 percent more than a year earlier.
This large jump occurred after India sharply increased its purchases of Russian oil - up to 40 percent of all oil imports to India in July now come from Russia, compared to two percent in 2021.
The main beneficiaries of the scheme are large Indian oil producers and refineries.
Western Sanctions Fail to Impact Russia Oil Imports
Moscow's revenues from oil exports rose to $17.1 billion in August, the highest level since October 2022 and analysts expect these figures to rise by 14 percent this month.
Interestingly, this came after almost 40 million tons of oil and petroleum products were redirected from Western to Eastern markets in 2022.
Russia became the largest exporter of black gold to India in the 2022-2023 financial year: supplies increased 19 times to 41 million tons. Meanwhile, deliveries of Russian crude to China rose by 28 percent to 89 million.
Overall, these two countries absorbed almost 80 percent of the exports that Europe lost.