Russia has suffered a major economic setback, after China and India halted their purchases of Kremlin oil. Oil and gas revenues are vital sources of revenue, accounting for between a third and half of Russia 's federal budget over the last decade. In particular, these revenues play a key role in helping Putin to finance his war in Ukraine.

Russia is sending cargoes of sanctioned oil to India on tankers that have been blacklisted by the US Treasury — setting up an acid test of Moscow's ability to get around aggressive measures imposed by Washington earlier this month.

The crude oil market is adapting quickly to the new sanctions against Russia's shadow fleet of tankers, albeit by creating both short- and medium-term winners and losers.

Russia has continued to send cargoes of crude oil to India on tankers that have been sanctioned by the US, Bloomberg reported on Tuesday.

The latest U.S. sanctions on Russia’s oil and gas sector have raised the cost of chartering tankers not under restrictions so significantly that trade with China and India for delivery in March has stalled,

Trade for March-loading Russian oil in top buyer Asia has stalled as a wide price gap between buyers and sellers emerged in China after costs for chartering tankers unaffected by U.S. sanctions jumped,