Russia imported a record 172,000 tonnes of oil products in August 2026, with 70% coming from India and 74% of those being gasoline, turning the country into a net gasoline importer for the month.
India supplied 120,000 tonnes of gasoline—worth €78 million—to Russia, all of it loaded at the Vadinar refinery, a plant that took 100% of its crude from Russia in the first eight months of 2026. The product was sold by EU‑sanctioned Nayara Energy, of which Rosneft owns 49.13 %, and purchased by Rosneft itself.
Each cargo was transferred by ship‑to‑ship at Egypt’s Damietta Lightering Zone before being off‑loaded at Russia’s Arctic port of Beloe More. The shipment involved sanctioned tankers, and four of the six vessels had flown a false flag in the last two years, according to a CREA analysis.
Egypt exported 25,000 tonnes of diesel, South Korea 18,000 tonnes of oil products, and Turkey began supplying gasoline, but India remains the dominant supplier, delivering 70% of Russia’s oil‑product imports and 94% of its gasoline imports.
Russia’s dependence on imported gasoline stems from domestic refinery outages and infrastructure disruptions that limit its ability to convert crude into usable fuels; the round‑trip trade effectively pays a partly‑owned refinery to process its own crude for consumption back home.
U.S. Treasury officials are now probing the deal for potential sanctions violations, while Russia defends the imports as a necessity amid its refinery shortfalls.