New US sanctions on Russia’s two biggest oil firms will likely push India and China — its top two customers — to curb purchases, dealing a blow to Moscow’s war economy.
Crude flows from Russia to India’s largest refineries are set to fall “to near zero,” Bloomberg wrote, while Chinese state oil majors have already suspended purchases, Reuters reported.
The restrictions, aimed at pressuring the Kremlin over the war in Ukraine, mark a major change in Washington’s policy, and could have a more immediate and material impact than past pressure tactics, analysts said: President Donald Trump has tried — and failed — to use tariffs to force New Delhi to cut Russian energy purchases.
