Public opinion on India's imports of Russian oil amidst US sanctions shows a stark division, with a significant portion expressing moral outrage over supporting Russia while defending India's need for energy security. Many commenters highlight a perception of American hypocrisy and express skepticism towards the effectiveness of the sanctions and mainstream media narratives.

India

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The sanctions were generally designed to keep Russian oil on the market, but had to comply with price caps if transactions passed through any western banks and institutions. India in particular was taking advantage of this by getting their oil at a massive discount.


The idea was to not disrupt the oil market, but make sure Russia took a financial hit.


Now any kind of Russian oil purchase could mean sanctions and penalties.

FencyMcFenceFace

Not all oil was sanctioned by the West. Several oil&amp;gas projects in Russia are sanctioned, some companies are (Gazprom and Surgutneftegaz back in January 2025, Lukoil and Rosneft now), and G7 countries have decided to stop buying Russian fossils to various degrees. The US and Canada stopped Russian imports completely (they could afford to), but the EU and Japan still import a lot. 

There is also an oil price cap, meaning that it is prohibited for G7 shipping services (ships, insurance, brokerage, etc.) to be provided to ships selling Russian oil above a certain price. This waa designed to keep Russian crude on the marker so prices wouldn't go up too much, while denting its revenues. 

The new sanctions on Lukoil and Rosneft simply restrict the ability of any American company to deal or trade with them in any way. Which means 3rd parties will need to be used, which potentially adds costs for Russia. But overall it is not a massive burden.

luka-sharaawy

Can’t believe a word the president says. Who could? Every thing he says is a lie or projection.

DryToe1269

It add a bit additional friction in the transactions.

dufutur

It's to hit China, major Russian oil importer, ahead of the trade talks while using the pretext of the war in ukraine

syylvo

Not much. Europe buys Russian oil through the shadow fleet, which is already circumventing previous sanctions the EU imposed on itself. The US' will to reprimand its allies for continuing to buy Russian oil is unclear anyways. 

For China and India, they can continue buying Russian oil from Rosneft and Lukoil. India will likely do it through private companies while officially showing that government owned refineries dont buy from Russia, which gives a symbolic win to the US while in reality private Indian refineries pick up the slack.

China is the more interesting player here because the US doesn't have any leverage over China that it could exercise without incurring massive damage to itself. There are innumerable ways for China to wreak economic devastation on the west, and it is fundamentally against China's interest to kowtow to western threats regardless of how trivial or extreme. Further, China has long been considering to voluntarily cut itself off of the SWIFT system in favor of their alternative CIPS which would defang western sanctions across the board anyway.

Novo-Russia

This is the reason for sanctions on Russia, Iran, Venezuela. USA fight for world wide energy dominance.

[https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/oil-production-by-country](https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/oil-production-by-country)

Look on this, USA constantly increase oil production from Obama time, meaning it need to push out other oil producers or, as minimum, take energy production under control of western corporations.

Here explanation for all western wars and sanctions. As USA empire getting weaker, there use of out of market competition - sanctions, tariffs, wars increase. War or regime change on Venezuela looming.

That mean it is very dangerous to submit to USA pressure, or country will become completely depended on USA.

GeologistOld1265

Every single day I hear similar news, India to cut russian oil. india to cut russian oil imports, etc etc Yet from what I understand they have not cut russian oil imports and they likely will not be doing so in the future.

Reckless-Savage-6123

Let's wait for the data to come out in the next few months to see if there are any cuts. If India cuts Russian oil imports, where will it import the gap from and at what prices (most probably elevated prices) ?

krazydude22

US sanctions, to be clear.

European sanctions or lack thereof are not mentioned in the article.

nvkylebrown

So why do Turkey and China not get sanctioned? Will these sanctions on India mean that Europe does not buy the refined Russian oil from anyone?

Cerealfeeder

That could have significant ripple effects on energy markets.

PrincesssMadie

Lol in trump's language India under Modi says -- Kiss my Ass 🤣

ChemistryApart1468

So, TLDR is Reliance will start buying from intermediaries rather than from Rosenift?

unknown_guest17

No_Zucchini_4389

We can’t buy oil from Venezuela . We can’t buy oil from Iran. We can’t buy oil from Russia. We have to buy it from the countries that tell us where to buy from. We don’t have any kind of leverage. In fact they have us by our balls. Fuck those countries. Fuck our politicians. Fuck the oligarchs who own them. And ultimately a big fuck to us citizens.

dehawu01

PaxSovietica

India :- Europe problems are not the world problems.

And india will do what's good for &gt;!Ambani!&lt; INDIA.

Europe be like:-

https://preview.redd.it/iomg0y4q5uwf1.jpeg?width=1640&amp;format=pjpg&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=912ed19a4ea0edc94349d1b32f13e0a27f3e9e93

Seriously man 😒 that went as horrible as one could have imagine.

Lucky-Operation5187

crude oil price already down hae, make sense

Lopsided-Car-4367

They published the list already: [https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0290](https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sb0290)

It's Rosneft and Lukoil and all their &gt;50%-owned subsidiaries.

This is going to be interesting as Lukoil has a couple of refineries in the EU, e.g. one in Romania (which just happened to experience a fire). The other one is in Bulgaria.

Rosneft has share in three in Germany, but &gt;50% only in the Schwedt one, and that is under trusteeship, so I'm not sure if it's affected. Germany was [pressing them to sell](https://www.dw.com/en/germany-tells-rosneft-find-buyer-or-lose-refinery/a-68477965). When the UK imposed similar sanctions last week, they eventually [made exceptions for that](https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/uk-clears-dealings-with-german-managed-rosneft-refineries-amid-russia-sanctions/articleshow/124738339.cms).

Just-Sale-7015

DABOSSROSS9

WASHINGTON—The Trump administration is planning substantial new sanctions on Russia, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Wednesday.
“We are going to either announce after the close this afternoon or first thing tomorrow morning a substantial pickup in Russia sanctions,” Bessent told reporters.

Negotiations over ending the war in Ukraine have stalled, with President Trump putting off a planned summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Budapest. Trump previewed Tuesday that the U.S. would make a significant Russia announcement within two days.

The imposition of additional sanctions would be a clear signal that Trump’s patience with Putin is wearing thin as he looks for ways to pressure Russia into a peace deal that would end nearly four years of fighting.

Distinct_Front_4336

Also from FT

The US is imposing sanctions on Russia’s two biggest oil companies, Rosneft and Lukoil, aiming to “degrade” Vladimir Putin’s war chest and support Donald Trump’s effort to end the war in Ukraine.

The move marks the first time Trump has imposed direct costs on Russia over the war.

"Now is the time to stop the killing and for an immediate ceasefire,” said Treasury secretary Scott Bessent. “Given President Putin’s refusal to end this senseless war, Treasury is sanctioning Russia’s two largest oil companies that fund the Kremlin’s war machine.”

He said the US was prepared to take further action. “We encourage our allies to join us in and adhere to these sanctions,” he said.

A number of Russian-based subsidiaries majority-owned by Rosneft and Lukoil have also been sanctioned under the move, which could bar them from all transactions in US dollars.

Crude oil prices rose more than 3 per cent.


Last week, the UK unveiled sanctions on the two oil majors, while the EU is set to announce its 19th package of penalties on Moscow, including a ban on imports of Russian liquefied natural gas.

In January, the Biden administration imposed sanctions on Russian oil majors Gazprom Neft and Surgutneftegas but held off imposing penalties on Rosneft and Lukoil over concerns that it could drive up global energy prices.

Wednesday’s announcement by the Trump administration means that Russia’s four largest oil companies have now been hit with US sanctions.

Trump has grown increasingly frustrated with Putin over the continued war, now in its fourth year.


“Every time I speak with Vladimir, I have good conversations, and then they don’t go anywhere,” Trump said on Wednesday in the Oval Office.

Asked about the decision to impose sanctions on Moscow, Trump said: “I just felt it was time.”

“These are tremendous sanctions,” Trump said. “We hope that they won’t be on for long. We hope that the war will be settled.”

One day EU wont spend more on Russian oil than aid to Ukraine.

EnergyOwn6800

The fact the EU still brought oil gas and other resources from Russia after crimea and the Salisbury attacks shows how pathetic the EU

Russia literally used weapons of mass destruction on an EU member state(the uk was still in the EU at the time) snd Europe did nothing

jrob10997

Ain’t lukoil same as viada? We have a lot of them here in Latvia and I remember well how all lukoil’s converted into viada’s.

Benders03

Weewoofiatruck

Sanctions that should have been in effect years ago.

Less_Tacos

Will this in any way sour things between trump and putin or could this be just another scheme they have.

wormtickler

Fit_Checks

I want to see it before i believe anything from this criminal team in the white house

-------7654321

There's 100% some billionaire buddy of Trump who pushed for this so that he profits in the stock market with advance knowledge of what will happen. 

Said that, it's better that his banana republic schemes work against Russia than in favour...

AdminEating_Dragon

Prediction: Putin will make a phone call and then the sanction is paused because Trump believes Putin "wants peace".

Spineless Trump is going to TACO again on this.

wizgset27

Trump zig and zags and right now he is zagging. Given the big ramp in oil by the Saudis as of late it is indeed the right time to pull this lever.


In 2022 the war made oil prices shoot up as the world was not ready for a fossil market without Russia. Today, that gap is more and more being filled by rising supply from the middle east, east Asia and the rise of renewable.

Timely-Switch-2601

KayNicola

slipped-my-mind

This is an interesting development, but have you considered releasing the Epstein files?

OneEvilTit

putin allowed it to maintain oranjada's cover. rosfuck already established unsanctionable output channels. 

b00c

Uh oh, did Trump and his boyfirend/boss get in another spat?

NarrakianWizard

Fuzzy_Cricket6563

Ignore this BS. Come back when there is a non US study on the impact of any US sanctions on Russia.

Technical_Age_3504

We should diversify our exports immediately no need to rely on 1 country as anything can happen.

maheshmatii

chachajan

Now from where our cronies will earn billions .

fist-king

Didn't Russian oil exports "collapse" during the April May period, only for it to bounce back?

Noobodiiy

Recent reports indicate that Indian and Chinese refiners are significantly reducing their purchases of Russian oil due to US sanctions, causing global oil prices to spike and raising concerns among major importers.

Russian Oil Imports and Sanctions

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