Moscow is accused of dodging sanctions via shadow fleets to ship oil to China, India and Turkey, with CREA saying 113 Russian vessels flew false flags in 2025, moving 13% of crude worth 4.7 bn.
India imported 5.4 million tonnes of Russian oil worth 2.1 billion between January and September 2025 aboard 30 vessels sailing under false flags, a European think tank claimed on Thursday.
The shipments made India the largest national destination for crude moved by Russia’s expanding “shadow fleet,” the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said in its report.
Western nations imposed sanctions on Russian energy after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow is accused of skirting those curbs by using ageing tankers with obscure ownership, falsified registrations and disabled tracking systems to deliver crude to buyers including China, India and Turkey.
CREA said 113 Russian-linked vessels flew false flags in the first nine months of 2025, carrying 13% of Russia’s crude exports — about 11 million tonnes valued at 4.7 billion. "As of September 2025, there were 90 Russian 'shadow' vessels operating under false flags - a six-fold increase from December 2024," it said.
The report however, did not give a break-up of the destinations the shadow fleet had sailed to.
When asked about false-flagged ships ferrying oil to India, CREA said 30 such vessels shipped crude oil to India during the first nine months of 2025. "Of the EUR 4.7 billion of Russian oil transported...
World Moscow is accused of dodging sanctions via shadow fleets to ship oil to China, India and Turkey, with CREA saying 113 Russian vessels flew false flags in 2025, moving 13% of crude worth 4.7 b...