Russia exaggerates and embellishes figures, claiming a radical decline in its oil exports following the imposition of U.S. sanctions against oil giants Lukoil and Rosneft, believes the head of the Monitoring Group of the Black Sea Strategic Studies Institute, Andrey Klimenko. He wrote about this on his Facebook page.
"Where there is a real decrease in oil exports of 18-22% according to our objective monitoring (with our own eyes), they portray 40-73%," noted the expert.
This refers to recent information from Russian media that the port of Primorsk on the Baltic Sea recorded a 73% drop in shipments last week, down to 43,000 tons per day, while Ust-Luga saw a 40% decline, also to 43,000 tons per day. Journalists cited data from the price index center of Russian Gazprombank.
As Klimenko previously wrote, the beginning of November marked a decline in oil exports from Russia due to U.S. sanctions, but the volume is gradually recovering.
"In the first decade of November compared to October, we recorded a clear significant lag in export volumes - by 30.9%. In the first 12 days, it significantly decreased (which indicates an attempt by Russia to overcome the initial emotional reactions of traditional buyers) - the 'minus' in volumes amounted to 18.4%. In the first 15 days of November, the lag compared to October 2025 figures was almost the same - 22.3%," explained the expert.
Andrey Klimenko concludes that sanctions affect oil exports from Russia, but the Kremlin is doing everything possible to minimize this impact.
"This influence is currently more emotional - during the period when traditional importers in India, China, and Turkey are determining schemes to circumvent these sanctions, as well as whether the U.S. will control this," the expert summarized.
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