Injustice Anywhere is a Threat to Justice Everywhere, MLK jr – Page 78

Putin’s Regime Is Descending Into Stalinism

Politico

Putin’s Regime Is Descending Into Stalinism

Leon Aron – April 18, 2023

Vladimir Kara-Murza is a pro-democracy opposition leader in Russia — and my friend. He was arrested in April of last year for
“discrediting the armed forces” of Russia. His arrest was apparently triggered by a visit he made to Arizona the previous month during which he simply told the truth.

“The entire world sees what [Russian President Vladimir] Putin’s regime is doing to Ukraine,” Kara-Murza told members of Arizona’s state legislature. “It bombs civilian areas, hospitals and schools.”

In the months that followed his arrest, the Kremlin piled on. He was also charged with using the funds of an “undesirable organization” — the Washington, D.C. -based NGO “Free Russia Foundation” — to convene a conference in support of Russian political prisoners in Moscow in October 2021. Simultaneously, he was accused of “high treason” because he testified before the Helsinki Commission and the NATO Parliamentary assembly, and for allegedly “consulting foreign special services” for $30,000 a month.

On Monday, Kara-Murza was sentenced to 25 years in a “strict regime” prison colony. This is likely the longest sentence ever meted out for political activity in post-Soviet Russia, where the maximum term for murder is 15 years and the punishment for rape is the same. His sentence combines penalties for all these “crimes”: seven years for the first, three for the second, and 15 years (apparently “reduced” from eighteen) for the third.

This punishment is much harsher than the ones to which the regime’s vengeance has lately subjected members of the opposition. The two other leading opponents of the Kremlin, Alexei Navalny and Ilya Yashin, were sentenced to nine years and eight-and-a-half years respectively.

Heightened repression is always a sign of fear. Could Kara-Murza’s punishment have had something to do with the fact that Navalny was sentenced a year ago and Yashin last December, when the war in Ukraine may not have looked to the Kremlin as much of an endless bloody slog as it appears today? And also when its prosecution of the war, while dealing with harsh Western sanctions, was not as much fraught with the possibility of popular discontent over gradual impoverishment and casualties in the hundreds of thousands? It seems that the reason the sentence is so harsh is to scare civil society and preclude any chance of organized resistance.

Even in the post-Stalin Soviet Union, the authorities generally avoided charging dissidents with crimes like “high treason,” most often espionage. (The 1977 case of the Jewish refusenik Anatoly Sharansky was an exception.) As Kara-Murza, whom the Kremlin almost certainly tried to poison twice before, pointed out to the kangaroo court this week, his sentence harkens back not just to Soviet times but to the 1930s Stalinist purges of “enemies of the people.”

Kara-Murza is a Cambridge-trained historian, and he was right. Putin’s regime is descending into Stalinism. Sustained by indiscriminate ruthlessness, such regimes do not “evolve”— witness North Korea or Cuba. They can only be destroyed either by an invasion, like Pol Pot’s Cambodia or Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, or exploded from within by a miraculous leader like Mikhail Gorbachev.

Neither outcome is likely in Russia so long as Putin lives. And so the struggle is very personal now between the two Vladimirs, Putin and Kara-Murza, even biological: Only Putin’s death can free my friend Vladimir. Putin is 70, Kara-Murza is 41. But the effective age gap will narrow steadily as Kara-Murza’s jailers will undoubtedly begin grinding him down from day one.

Yet Kara-Murza was defiant and hopeful even as his sentence came down. “I know that the day will come when the darkness over our country will be gone,” he said in his final statement before the court. “When the war will be called a war, and the usurper [in the Kremlin] will be called a usurper; when those who have ignited this war will be called criminals instead of those who tried to stop it… And then our people will open their eyes and shudder at the sight of the horrific crimes committed in their names.”

And that is how Russia’s road back to the community of civilized states will commence, Kara-Murza told the court. Even as he sat in the steel cage in the courtroom, he said he believed that Russia would travel this road.

“Because,” he concluded, despite everything, “I love my country and I have trust in our people.”

Ex-Navy Officer Reportedly Probed for Amplifying Pentagon Leak to Russian Channels

Daily Beast

Ex-Navy Officer Reportedly Probed for Amplifying Pentagon Leak to Russian Channels

Josh Fiallo – April 17, 2023

The feds are reportedly probing a former U.S. Navy non-commissioned officer who’s accused of overseeing a prominent Russian propaganda account that made leaked documents from the Pentagon go viral this month.

Sarah Bils, 37, was unmasked this weekend as being behind the online persona “Donbass Devushka”—which roughly translates to “Donbass Girl”—despite her being a New Jersey native who lives in Washington state.

Two U.S. defense officials told United States Naval Institute News that Bils is now being probed for potentially sharing four classified docs—allegedly leaked initially by Massachusetts Air Guardsman Jack Teixeira, who was arrested last week—to Donbass Devushka’s 65,000-plus followers on Telegram.

Exact details on the probe—and potential charges for Bils—have not been released.

A Navy biography for Bils says she was an aviation electronics technician who worked out of Naval Air Station Whidbey Island in Washington state until November 2022. Speaking from her home, she admitted to The Wall Street Journal that she’s partially behind the Donbass Devushka network, which describes itself on its social media pages—including Twitter, Telegram and YouTube—as engaging in “Russian–style information warfare.”

But Bils told the paper she’s just one of 15 people “all over the world” with access to the propaganda accounts, maintaining that she wasn’t the administrator who posted the classified U.S. intel. Instead, she claims she was the admin who eventually deleted the posts.

The leaked docs quickly went viral in Russia after they were posted by Donbass Devushka on April 5, the Journal reported, with “several large Russian social-media accounts” picking up the documents and reposting. The channel’s posts with the classified documents remained online for days.

“Some very interesting potential intel,” the Telegram channel for Donbass Devushka posted with screenshots of the documents. “The authenticity cannot be confirmed but looks to be very damning nato information.”

It was the virality of this post that alerted U.S. authorities that classified intel was compromised. Previously, Teixeira, 21, had been posting other classified documents to a private Discord channel for months but the docs never went public, group members told The Washington Post.

Bils said she never used her position in the Navy to leak classified intel and that she didn’t work with Teixeira, telling the Journal, “I obviously know the gravity of top-secret classified materials. We didn’t leak them.”

The military and Justice Department have not made a public statement about Bils and her alleged role in amplifying the leak. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, told the Journal that the military has ordered a review of intelligence access, accountability, and control procedures to nix future leakers.

Teixeira has been charged with unauthorized detention and transmission of national defense information and unauthorized removal of classified information and defense materials. The feds allege that he shared classified information on social media starting in December.

Members of Teixeira’s Discord channel told the Post that he shared screenshots of battlefield conditions in Ukraine, highly classified satellite images of the aftermath of Russian missile strikes, and vivid details on troop movements within Ukraine.

The Donbass Devushka network has basked in the aftermath of this month’s leaks—gaining thousands of new followers. Those new to its multiple social media pages were met with posts advertising pro-Russia merchandise and a promise that proceeds would go to the mercenary Wagner Group and the Russian military.

The Journal reported that Bils was honorably discharged from the military in November after a “significant demotion.” Bils told reporters that she’d left the Navy because she suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, and that she has “some” Russian heritage.

On a podcast that shares the same name as her popular Telegram channel, Bils spoke with a “slight Russian accent,” the Journal reported—an accent other outlets have described as being “phony.” She also posed as being a woman from the Donbas region of Ukraine, one of the bloodiest areas of the Russo-Ukrainian conflict.

Bils told the Journal her old gig gave her clearance to view top-secret information but that she no longer has that access.

“I don’t even know the authenticity of the documents or what they say,” she told the Journal about the leaked intel shared on her page. “I am not very well versed in reading documents like that.”

One of the most prolific pro-Russia propaganda channels is run by a US Navy veteran living in Washington

Business Insider

One of the most prolific pro-Russia propaganda channels is run by a US Navy veteran living in Washington

Hannah Getahun – April 16, 2023

rows of people's legs wearing boots and camouflage pants — US Navy sailors lining up on the USS Carl Vinson.Getty Images

A popular pro-Russia social-media account is run by a Navy veteran, per reports.
Donbass Devushka, whose real name is Sarah Bils, previously claimed to be from Eastern Europe.
The account helped to spread the leaked Pentagon documents that were posted on Discord.

A social-media account that spread misinformation about the war in Ukraine and pro-Russian war talking points was created by former US Navy non-commissioned officer, The Wall Street Journal confirmed in an exclusive interview.

Sarah Bils is a 37-year-old woman in Oak Harbor, Washington, who served at the US Naval Air Station on Whidbey Island until November of 2022, online Navy records show. Bils’ identity was first uncovered by users on Twitter and Reddit, and first reported by an advocacy site mainly posting about the war known as Malcontent News.

Online, however, Bils goes by the name Donbass Devushka, and her account sometimes posts graphic images of the fighting, praises the brutal wing of the Russian military known as the Wagner group, and sometimes celebrates the death of Ukrainian fighters.

Bils told the Journal that 15 other people help her run the account.

The persona has a YouTube channel, a Twitter, and a Spotify podcast with tens of thousands of followers. On the podcast, Bils, who in previous posts claimed to be from Eastern Europe, appears to put on a phony accent.

On the bio of her Telegram — from which she posts dozens of times a day — Bils says the account is “Russian-style information warfare” that’s “Bringing the multipolar world together.” The account, ironically, once posted a screenshot of the popular meme reading “I’ll serve crack before I serve this country” — meant to signify that someone would never join the US military.

The Telegram account was also recently associated with helping to spread four images of the dozens of leaked US intelligence documents that appeared on a Discord server called Thug Shaker Central. Many of these documents contained information on US intelligence gathering on the war in Ukraine. Jack Teixeira, a 21-year-old junior-ranking US National Guard airman, was arrested on Thursday and charged on Friday with possessing classified documents pertaining to national security, and possessing national defense materials.

Bils, who had secret security clearances while serving, told the Journal she did not help to leak the documents. The Journal also noted that the documents posted on her channel were altered versions of the Discord documents, but Bils denied that her team had altered them.

“I obviously know the gravity of top-secret classified materials,” she told the publication.

The documents are no longer on the account, but the Donbass Devushka Telegram channel shared a theory on April 13 that the leaks were actually an intentional effort from US intelligence officials and that Teixeira unknowingly carried out their plan.

Insider reached out to emails associated with Donbass Devushka and Bils but did not immediately receive a response.

The US Navy did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment.

Correction: April 17, 2023 — An earlier version of this story mischaracterized Bils’ position in the Navy. She was a noncommissioned officer, not a commissioned officer.

Former Navy NCO running pro-Russian social account under investigation for helping spread classified documents

Fox News

Former Navy NCO running pro-Russian social account under investigation for helping spread classified documents

Michael Lee – April 17, 2023

A former Navy non-commissioned officer is reportedly the subject of a Justice Department investigation into her role in helping spread classified documents recently leaked online.

Sarah Bils, a 37-year-old former aviation electronics technician in the Navy, is allegedly behind the pro-Russian “Donbass Devushka” social media account that helped classified documents originally leaked by Massachusetts Air Guardsman Jack Teixeira reach a wider audience, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal on Sunday.

Donbass Devushka, which translates as “Donbas Girl,” is a series of social media accounts popular on Telegram, Twitter and YouTube that pushed a pro-Kremlin view for an English-speaking audience. Despite presenting itself as being a single Russian blogger, the accounts are run by multiple administrators, including Bils.

US DEFENSE SECRETARY LLOYD AUSTIN SAYS LEAKED CLASSIFIED DOCUMENTS WERE ‘SOMEWHERE IN THE WEB’

The social media accounts and Bils’ role are now the subject of a Justice Department investigation, according to a report from USNI News on Monday.

Bils last served at Naval Air Station Whidbey Island before leaving the service late last year. She reached the grade of E-7, or chief petty officer, during her time in the service, but she left the military as an E-5, or petty officer second class. It is unclear why the former service member was demoted.

The Navy did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.

Selfie Jack Teixeira alleged leaker — Jack Teixeira

SOUTH KOREA SAYS LEAKED PENTAGON DOCUMENT SUGGESTING US SPYING IS ‘UNTRUE’ AND ‘ALTERED’: REPORTS

Classified documents allegedly posted to the internet by Teixeira had gone relatively unnoticed until they were picked up by the Donbass Devushka social media account, which boasts a much larger following than the invite-only Discord server that was run by the Massachusetts Guardsman.

From there, the documents were picked up by several large Russian social media accounts, spurring the Pentagon investigation into the leaks.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Bils, who had access to classified material in her capacity in the Navy, said the documents were posted to Donbass Devushka by another administrator and later deleted by her.

“I obviously know the gravity of top-secret classified materials. We didn’t leak them,” she told the outlet.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a review of intelligence access and procedures in response to the leaks.

Bils is originally from New Jersey and currently lives in Washington state. She joined the Navy in 2009 and completed “A” school at Naval Aviation Technical Training Center in Pensacola, Florida, and first reported to Fleet Readiness Center Northwest, Whidbey Island, in 2011.

Her awards include two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, a Meritorious Unit Commendation, four Good Conduct Medals and the National Defense Service Medal, according to USNI News.

The Justice Department declined to comment on the case.

Russian oil products are heading to the crude-rich Persian Gulf as the UAE and Saudi Arabia take advantage of cheap barrels

Business Insider

Russian oil products are heading to the crude-rich Persian Gulf as the UAE and Saudi Arabia take advantage of cheap barrels

Phil Rosen – April 17, 2023

saudi arabia russia putin — Russian President Vladimir Putin with Saudi Arabia’s Ambassador to Russia Abdulrahman Al-Rassi.Reuters/Sergei Karpukhin

Gulf nations are snapping up cheap Russian oil products while exporting their own crude at market rates.
Saudia Arabia and the UAE have emerged as key storage and trading hubs for Russian products, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Russia is sending 100,000 barrels a day to Saudi Arabia, up from effectively zero pre-Ukraine war, Kpler data shows.

Petro-rich nations in the Persian Gulf are buying discounted Russian oil products as Moscow continues to seek willing buyers while the West shuns the warring nation.

The United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia are using those Russian barrels within their own borders for consumption and refining purposes, while exporting their own products at market rates, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Russian naphtha and diesel sell at discounts of $60 and $25 a ton, respectively, according to the report.

In addition, the two countries, particularly the UAE, have emerged as key trade and storage hubs for Russian oil and fuel. Trading firms import Russia energy to the UAE and re-export it to Pakistan, Sri Lanka or East Africa, the report said.

Kpler data shows Russian oil exports to the UAE more than tripled to 60 million barrels last year. Separate Argus Media data cited by the Journal show Russia now accounts for more than 10% of gas oil stored in Fujairah, the UAE’s main oil-storage center.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is importing 100,000 barrels a day from Russia after seeing effectively zero before Russia war on Ukraine, translating to an annual pace of about 36 million barrels.

US officials have objected to the burgeoning relations between Russia and the Gulf nations. But with Russia’s Urals crude trading at more than a 30% discount to Brent crude, the international benchmark, the arbitrage is particularly attractive.

Moscow has proven capable of navigating Western sanctions and price caps well enough to push oil exports above levels reached before it invaded Ukraine. In the first quarter, Russia’s seaborne crude exports hit 3.5 million barrels a day, compared to the 3.35 million barrels reached in the year-ago quarter.

Meanwhile, Kpler data shows that China and India now account for roughly 90% of Russia’s oil, with each country taking in 1.5 million barrels a day — more than enough to absorb the volumes no longer heading to European nations.

Still, even with other countries plugging the gaps left by sanctions, Moscow hasn’t been able to maintain the same level of energy profits amid war. The International Energy Agency said Friday that the country’s export revenue is down 43% compared to the same time last year.

‘He didn’t deserve to get shot’: Good Samaritan who helped Ralph Yarl found him bloody and motionless

NBC News

‘He didn’t deserve to get shot’: Good Samaritan who helped Ralph Yarl found him bloody and motionless

Deon J. Hampton and Doha Madani – April 17, 2023

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ralph Paul Yarl, the Black teenager who was shot by a homeowner after having rung the wrong doorbell, was motionless and covered in blood when James Lynch found him unconscious.

“I thought he was dead,” Lynch said Monday.

“No one deserves to lay there like that,” Lynch said. “He hasn’t even begun to live his life yet. He didn’t deserve to get shot.”

Lynch, 42, had just gotten out of the shower Thursday night and was getting ready for bed when he heard shouting outside. He went over to his kitchen window and saw a boy banging on the door of a nearby home.

“I heard somebody screaming, ‘Help, help, I’ve been shot!'” Lynch said, adding the shouting was out of place for the normally quiet neighborhood.

Lynch, a father of three, said he ran outside, jumped his fence and sprinted through a neighbor’s yard and across the street to another neighbor’s driveway to get to Yarl.

James Lynch, 42, who helped Ralph Yarl after he was shot. (Deon J. Hampton / NBC News)

His face and arms were covered in blood, and it looked as if Yarl had been shot in his head near an eye socket.

Lynch’s old Eagle Scout training kicked in when Yarl suddenly came to. Lynch told him, “I’m going to grab your hand really tight.” He checked Yarl’s wrist for a pulse before he asked him his name and age and where he went to school.

Yarl struggled to respond before he spelled his name. Another neighbor came over with towels to help stem the bleeding, and she and Lynch waited with Yarl until paramedics arrived.

Yarl, 16, had been trying to pick up his 11-year-old twin brothers from a friend’s home but had gone to the wrong street and house. His family’s attorneys, Lee Merritt and Ben Crump, said he was shot twice after he rang the doorbell.

A warrant was issued for Andrew Lester, an 85-year-old white man, on charges of first-degree assault and armed criminal action, Clay County Prosecuting Attorney Zachary Thompson said Monday.

Merritt said the shot to Yarl’s head left him with a critical, traumatic brain injury. He was also shot in the upper arm, the attorneys said.

Faith Spoonmore, his aunt, said on a fundraising page that Yarl had gone to at least three homes before he received help.

Yarl, a student at Staley High School, loves science, takes mostly college-level courses and plays in the school band, according to North Kansas City Schools Superintendent Dan Clemens.

Protests erupted over the weekend in Kansas City, with some people saying Yarl’s race played a role in the situation.

Reflecting on Thursday night, Lynch said he doesn’t consider himself a hero.

“I didn’t do anything but hold a kid’s hand so he wouldn’t feel alone. He had just gotten shot twice; he had a hole in the side of his head,” Lynch said. “That kid is tougher than I am.”

Deon J. Hampton reported from Kansas City, Missouri. Doha Madani reported from New York City.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been reporting income from defunct real estate company

USA Today

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been reporting income from defunct real estate company, report says

Ken Tran, USA TODAY – April 17, 2023

As Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is under heightened scrutiny for accepting lavish trips from a GOP billionaire megadonor, he also has been disclosing income from a now-defunct real estate company, The Washington Post reported.

Over the past two decades, Thomas has been reporting on required financial disclosures rental income from a family real estate company – but the company ceased operations in 2006.

By itself, the disclosure could be chalked up as an inadvertent error. The original company, named Ginger, Ltd., Partnership, was taken over by a similarly named company, Ginger Holdings, LLC.

Here’s what you need to know.

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been under scrutiny for accepting lavish trips and other gifts from a Republican megadonor.

Clarence Thomas reported $270,000 to $750,000 from now-defunct company

The original company, a Nebraska real estate firm named Ginger, Ltd., Partnership, was created in the 1980s and shut down in 2006. In its place, a new company, Ginger Holdings, LLC, was created and assumed control of the previous company, according to The Post.

On Thomas’ recent annual disclosure forms, the Supreme Court justice reported income of between $50,000 and $100,000 from Ginger, Ltd., Partnership, the older, now-defunct company, The Post reported. The forms make no mention of the newer company, Ginger Holdings, LLC.

Since 2006, according to The Post, Thomas reported receiving $270,000 to $750,000 from the older company, where it was described on his forms as “rent.”

Associate Justice Clarence Thomas has been reporting rental income from a family real estate company that ceased operations more than 15 years ago, The Washington Post reported.

Thomas under scrutiny over relationship with GOP megadonor

Thomas’ financial disclosures entered the national spotlight again this month after ProPublica reported that he accepted multiple luxury vacations from Harlan Crow, a billionaire real estate magnate and GOP megadonor.

Along with his wife, Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the two went on multiple vacations funded by Crow over the past two decades, including trips on his superyacht and stays at his private resort. Thomas did not mention the travel on his disclosure forms.

Thomas’ financial relationship with Crow went further. ProPublica also reported that Crow purchased three Georgia properties from the Supreme Court justice – transactions Thomas failed to note on his financial disclosure forms.

The ethics controversy extends to his wife,conservative advocate Ginni Thomas, who has been under scrutiny for reports about efforts to help former President Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election. Ginni Thomas led a conservative group that received almost $600,000 in anonymous donations, The Washington Post reported.

In a statement this month, Thomas acknowledged that he and his wife joined Crow on a number of “family trips” during the more than a quarter century they have known them. He described the couple as “among our dearest friends.”

“Early in my tenure at the court, I sought guidance from my colleagues and others in the judiciary, and was advised that this sort of personal hospitality from close personal friends, who did not have business before the court, was not reportable,” Thomas said.

He has not responded to requests about the subsequent revelations.

Contributing: John Fritze

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and his wife, Ginni, leave funeral services for the late Justice Antonin Scalia in Washington in 2016.

Gunmen storm Mexican resort, kill 7, including child

Reuters

Gunmen storm Mexican resort, kill 7, including child

Daniel Becerril – April 15, 2023

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – Armed men on Saturday killed a child and six others after storming a resort in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, authorities said, in a region increasingly plagued by drug cartel violence.

Footage widely shared on social media showed the aftermath of the attack in a palm-studded resort in the small town of Cortazar, about 65 km (40 miles) south of the Guanajuato city.

It was not clear who was behind the shooting that killed the seven-year-old, three men and three women, Cortazar’s local security department said. One person was seriously injured in the La Palma resort.

But in recent years rival drug cartels have been waging brutal battles to control territory and trafficking routes through the state.

Video taken soon after the attack showed shocked adults and children walking past piles of dead bodies near a swimming pool.

“Heavily armed sicarios arrived and this is what happened,” said an unidentified man, using a word for hired assassins as he filmed at the resort in a video shared on the internet.

Reuters could not independently verify the contents of the video.

“After the attack, (the attackers) fled, but not before causing damage to the resort store and taking the security cameras and the monitor,” Cortazar’s security department said in a statement.

(Reporting by Daniel Becerril; Writing by Drazen Jorgic; Editing by William Mallard)

Republican Group Mocks Trump’s Love Of Dictators With Sexy New Video

HuffPost

Republican Group Mocks Trump’s Love Of Dictators With Sexy New Video

Ed Mazza – April 14, 2023

Donald Trump’s love for autocrats is on full display in a new video from his critics on the right.

The Republican Accountability Project, a group of “Never Trump” GOPers, dropped a clip featuring Trump’s comments from this week and the past in which he praised Chinese leader Xi Jinping, North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

It’s embellished with hearts — and has some music to set the mood:

Donald Trump Loves Dictators pic.twitter.com/mWtHqdi6y6
— Republican Accountability (@AccountableGOP) April 13, 2023

Trump has long had starry eyes for dictators and strongmen, and spent much of his presidency cozying up to such leaders ― while at the same time often keeping the staunchest U.S. allies at arm’s length.

He sided with Putin when questioned about U.S. intelligence that found Russia interfered on his behalf in the 2016 election, and boasted that he got along so well with Kim that they “fell in love.”

And just last week, he bragged to Sean Hannity about how he “got along great” with various dictators.

On the flipside, he dismissed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a “far left lunatic” and accused French President Emmanuel Macron of being “very insulting.”

The Republican Accountability Project has been releasing videos, ads and billboards calling out Trump and the GOP lawmakers who enabled his lies about the 2020 election and supported the Jan. 6 insurrection.

China and India are buying so much Russian oil that Moscow’s now selling more crude than it was before invading Ukraine

Business Insider

China and India are buying so much Russian oil that Moscow’s now selling more crude than it was before invading Ukraine

Phil Rosen – April 14, 2023

Russia’s exports of crude oil have now surpassed the volumes hit before its invasion of Ukraine.
China and India account for roughly 90% of Russia’s seaborne crude exports, Kpler data shows.
With Europe largely out of the picture, the two countries are each buying 1.5 million barrels a day from Russia.

Russia has been able to navigate Western sanctions well enough to push oil exports above levels reached before its war on Ukraine — and new data suggests that Moscow has China and India to thank for that.

In the first quarter, Russia’s seaborne crude oil exports totaled 3.5 million barrels per day versus 3.35 million barrels in the year-ago quarter, the tail end of which saw the start of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

China and India now account for roughly 90% of Russia’s oil, with each country snapping up an average of 1.5 million barrels per day, according to commodities analytics firm Kpler,

That’s enough to absorb the shipments that no longer head to European nations, which used to account for nearly two-thirds of Russia’s crude exports. Europe now takes in only 8% of Russia’s oil exports, per Kpler.

“Both China and Russia are taking advantage of discounted Russian crude, benefiting from the sanctions applied on Russian materials by other countries,” Matt Smith, lead oil analyst at Kpler, told Insider Friday.

Behind China and India, Turkey and Bulgaria are the biggest buyers of Russian crude.

Even before Vladimir Putin launched his war on Ukraine, China was already a top buyer of Russian crude, importing 25% of its crude from the country in 2021. That’s since climbed to 36%, Kpler data shows.

India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, relied on Russia for about 1% of its total volumes prior to the war, but now buys 51% of its oil from Russia.

The US has led Europe and other Western nations in imposing sanctions and energy price caps on Russia, designed to maintain market flows while curtailing Moscow’s export revenue.

European Central Bank calculations show trade volume between the euro area and Russia has halved since February 2022, with the bloc’s imports of Russian imports seeing particularly steep declines following the bans on coal in August 2022, crude oil in December 2022, and refined oil products in February 2023.

The ECB chart below shows a similar pattern illustrated in Kpler’s data, with Russian seaborne crude exports shifting toward Asian buyers and away from Europe.

Russian economy oil sanctions crude imports — European Central Bank, ECB Economic Bulletin

To be sure, the revenue Russia generates from its energy exports has fallen along with the drop in prices, even as volumes remain elevated.

The International Energy Agency said Friday that Moscow’s revenue is down about 43% compared to the same time last year.

But oil prices are heading back up as China’s reopening economy drives demand while OPEC and Russia pinch supplies.

Earlier this month, OPEC+ announced a surprise production cut of over 1 million barrels a day, with Russia extending its 500,000-barrel-a-day pullback through mid-2023.