but reducing russian oil that s another matter. with the us banning imports, the uk phasing them out by the end of the year and the eu cutting supplies that come in by sea, but there are a number of countries that are not following these sanction regimes and taking a different stance. these include countries condemning russia s actions but not following the sanctions, like israel, mexico and the uae, the united arab emirates. and then there are those remaining neutral, walking something of a diplomatic tightrope, like south africa, brazil and india. and those criticising sanctions, like china. and it s those last two giant economies that are helping pick up the slack in the market for russian oil as they grab the cut price crude that s now on offer. so just how much are we talking about here? well, take a look at this. in may, china s imports of russian oil rose by 55% from a year earlier, to record levels. that equates to some 62 million
the sanctions have sought to target russia s war chest, blocking access to financial markets and targeting those close to president putin, and restricting access to international markets for goods and services. and when it comes to russia, the most important set of goods for them are from the energy sector. gas and oil. with fossil fuel money making up nearly half of moscow s federal budget last year. but the west and particularly europe s dependence on russian gas has made weaning themselves off these fossil fuels particularly difficult. to cut russian gas supplies, it is simply not possible for large parts of europe. but reducing russian oil that s another matter. with the us banning imports, the uk phasing them out by the end of the year and the eu cutting supplies that come in by sea, but there are a number of countries that are not following these sanction regimes and taking a different stance. these include countries condemning russia s actions but not following the sanctions,
Oil fluctuated as investors weighed a pledge by the Group of Seven to ban imports of Russian crude against a cut in official prices by Saudi Arabia and the impact of China’s energy-sapping lockdowns.