Vladimir Putin realizes how costly the war with Ukraine has become. The Russian president thought he could exclude the western world and focus his efforts on eastern allies. He thought he could divert oil exports to places such as China and India, thinking those nations could consume enough product to fund his war. But he was sadly mistaken as exports are down 30 percent since he invaded Ukraine.
China and India depend on Russian oil for their energy needs. But they are not using as much as Putin thought they would. It shows that other Asian nations are not ready to handle the amount of oil Russia produces.
Putin needs his eastern allies to buy as much oil from him as they can for him to be able to afford the war effort. But the sanctions imposed by western powers are proving too much for the Russian leader to handle. His threats of retaliation and nuclear bombs were nothing more than fancy bluffs, which were called.
The sanctions have forced Putin to get creative with how and where to sell his oil, but the facts show his efforts are not enough. The high gas prices enable Putin to continue his war efforts. His country is making a killing with the current price per barrel.
Both China and India have been found to have increased their imports of Russian oil. China took it upon itself to double the amount of oil it was buying from Russia. India went from zero barrels to a million barrels per day. Business Insider also reported that the imports have dropped by 30 percent, proving the oil market is saturated in Asia.
The world is intertwined to the point that when one nation suffers, the rest feels the pain on some level. Arrogant Putin thought he had all his plans ready to go. But he failed to realize just how much his nation depended on the western consumption of his oil exports.
Business Insider also reported that the Russian people spent $160 million a week exporting their oil. They were making a killing right up until the war started, and since that time, their funding has dropped significantly.
The amount of oil Russia extracted from its reserves was also down to 3.24 million barrels daily. The statistics prove that the war terribly affected the Russian people. Putin thought taking Ukraine would have positive effects, but so far, it has cost more than he could have thought possible.
And what is being discovered is that since the start of the war, many Asian nations have been looking for other sources of oil instead of relying on Russia to meet their needs. They cannot support a senseless war in which civilian people are being targeted and killed simply because they refuse to evacuate a city that Russian troops want to destroy.
President Joe Biden is missing a massive opportunity to end the war once and for all. He has the chance to rally the world to stop buying their oil from Russia, which would seriously hurt the amount of money Putin is getting from the Chinese and Indian people.
The sanctions have an effect, but it is minimal since oil prices have soared to new record levels. The inflated cost of one barrel of oil is enough to nullify the current sanctions. The amount of oil would have to increase to force prices to drop to where Putin begins to feel the pain of the war.
Biden has missed out on his chance to rise to an influential leader. His failed visit to the Middle East proves that no one takes him seriously. He wanted to force Saudi Arabia to produce more oil, but so far, the oil output remains the same. The old man has lost the respect of world leaders to the point that no one even listens to what he has to say.
And now, it seems that Putin is following in Biden’s footsteps by forcing a war that is hurting his global influence.
