Despite media speculation about India avoiding Russian oil, monitoring shows record Russian exports and overloaded ports, as buyers rush to secure crude before future sanctions take effect.

Did the Indians really get scared of Trump’s sanctions, and did their refineries actually stop accepting Russian oil? — we wondered during our daily monitoring when we saw that for 3-6 days several of “our” tankers from the Baltic and the Black Sea for some reason were not entering the Gulf of Kutch, on the shore of which several major oil ports/terminals/refineries are located — Sikka, Vadinar, Mundra (1, 2, 3 on the map). This was reported by Andrii Klymenko.

This is exactly what many media — both Ukrainian and foreign — are unfortunately writing. But what is the reality? It’s very easy to understand even without being an expert. Just look at the map from a popular maritime resource.

It’s completely crowded. The ports/terminals simply do not have time to receive and process tankers. All those red dots in the gulf are tankers waiting…

Right now we have record volumes of Russia’s seaborne crude oil exports (contrary to what the “greatest” recently claimed).

Why is that?

1. Because due to Ukraine’s “long-range sanctions” against Russian refineries, the enemy state was forced to redirect as much crude as possible for export — otherwise they would have to cap the wells. Because they have nowhere to put that bloody oil.

2. Although India and China do not believe that the “greatest” will actually enforce his demonstrative sanctions against Rosneft and Lukoil, they still want to build up reserves at normal prices (and bargain for a discount) before 21.11.2025, when the sanctions officially come into force.

So, we carefully follow the results of our monitoring and don’t fall for the sycophantic propaganda from the media towards the “greatest,” nor our own wishful thinking.

Only tough realism will allow us to build the next adequate steps in this struggle.