For three years, China and India have been increasing their imports of Russian oil and show no signs of stopping.

Last year, India’s oil imports from Russia hit 92.01 million tons, making up 38.1% of its total oil imports – its highest amount ever. In 2021, this volume was only 4.54 million tons (2.1%). Before that, India hardly purchased Russian oil, and Russia’s share in total imports never exceeded 2%. Between 2021 and 2023, imports increased nearly 20-fold, turning India into a major buyer of Russian oil. In terms of money, imports grew 22.8 times, from $2.31B in 2021 to $52.72B in 2024.

Meanwhile, China has consistently maintained high purchase volumes since the 2010s. Russia’s share of China’s imports ranged from 12.6% to 15.5% from 2015 to 2021. After 2022, China increased its imports from 86.25 million tons ($58B) in 2022 to 108.47 million tons ($62.6B) in 2024. Currently, 19.6% of China’s total oil imports come from Russia.

Thus, India and China are now two major markets for Russian oil exports, and despite pressure from US President Donald Trump and threats of tariffs, they have no plans to stop purchasing Russian energy resources. India has drawn specific attention to the fact that Western countries, including the US and the EU, continue trading with Russia. Beijing has also resisted Washington’s pressure to diminish its Russian oil purchases and instead has expanded its restrictions on critical mineral exports to Western countries.