This country replaces India as 2nd largest importer of Russian fossil fuel, not China, Pakistan
China remained the largest buyer, accounting for 48 percent of Russia’s export revenues from the top five importers.
Turkey has replaced India as the second largest buyer of Russia’s fossil fuels in December 2025, according to European think tank Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), PTI reported. This comes after Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Industries and state-owned refineries sharply reduced crude oil imports. However, India fell to third place among Russian fossil fuel buyers in the last month of 2025.
India’s hydrocarbon imports from Russia in December
According to CREA, India’s total hydrocarbon imports from Russia fell to 2.3 billion euros in December from 3.3 billion euros in the previous month. The statement said, “Turkey surpassed India as the second largest importer by purchasing Russian hydrocarbons worth 2.6 billion Euros in December.”
Who was the biggest buyer?
China remained the largest buyer, accounting for 48 percent (6 billion euros) of Russia’s export revenues from the five largest importers. “India imported Russian hydrocarbons totaling €2.3 billion in December, making it the third largest buyer of Russian fossil fuels,” CREA said. he said.
“78 percent of India’s purchases consisted of crude oil with 1.8 billion Euros. The rest of India’s monthly imports consisted of coal (424 million Euros) and petroleum products (82 million Euros).” In November, India spent 2.6 billion euros on purchasing Russian crude oil, which is processed in refineries to produce fuels such as petrol and diesel.
“India’s Russian crude imports have fallen to their lowest volumes, registering a sharp decline of 29 per cent on a monthly basis since the implementation of the price cap policy. These declines occurred despite total imports growing marginally,” CREA said, without giving exact figures. he said.
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US sanctions on Russia
The United States has imposed sanctions on Rosneft and Lukoil, two of Russia’s largest oil producers, in an attempt to cut off resources the Kremlin uses to finance the Ukraine war. The sanctions have caused companies such as Reliance Industries, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd (HPCL), HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd and Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd to halt or cut imports for now. However, other refiners such as Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) continue to purchase from non-sanctioned Russian entities. India, the world’s third-largest oil importer, became the biggest buyer of discounted Russian crude after Western countries stayed away from Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
