While the European Union and the United States are considering energy sanctions, Russia is looking for new markets. Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia is trying to shift energy exports to the east, the Global Times reported on April 15, citing Reuters. At the same time, Putin ordered the Russian government to submit a plan by June 1, including "extending transport infrastructure to countries in Africa, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region."

At the same time, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Nowak warned that without Russian energy, it would be impossible to talk about ensuring European energy security, and Western countries are unlikely to completely replace Russian oil and gas in the next five to 10 years.

At present, India is increasing its imports of Russian crude oil and coal. According to the Russian satellite news agency, India has bought at least 13 million barrels of Russian crude oil since late February, close to the level for the whole of last year. In March this year, India imported 1.04 million tons of coal from Russia, the highest level since January 2020.

Britain, on the other hand, is still expanding sanctions against Russia. The British government announced on Thursday that it had frozen the assets of two Russian tycoons worth up to 10 billion pounds (83.4 billion yuan), making it the largest asset freeze in British history.

To the nervousness of the market, Russia's military operation continues. On April 15, local time, the Russian Defense Ministry issued an announcement announcing that the number and scale of missile strikes against military facilities in Kiev would increase, according to CCTV news. In addition, the Russian Foreign Ministry sent a note to the United States warning that arms shipments by the United States and NATO to Ukraine are aggravating the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and may bring "unpredictable consequences." Earlier, U. S. President Joe Biden approved $800 million in additional military aid to Ukraine.

Putin warns

As the European Union tries to reduce its dependence on Russian energy, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia is trying to shift energy exports to the east, the Global Times reported on April 15, citing Reuters. European countries cannot immediately give up Russian natural gas.

Russia has been building closer ties with Asian countries as the EU discusses whether to impose sanctions on Russian gas and oil and member states seek supplies from elsewhere, Reuters reported.

Putin ordered the Russian government to submit a plan by June 1, including "extending transport infrastructure to countries in Africa, Latin America and the Asia-Pacific region."

In addition, Putin also sought to clarify the possibility of bringing two pipelines: the Sakhalin-Khabarovsk-Vladivostok gas pipeline in the far East and the "Siberian Power" gas pipeline into Russia's unified natural gas supply system.

Some analysts point out that the two gas pipelines will connect Russian natural gas to a larger network and may allow Russia to transfer more natural gas from Europe to Asia.

In fact, before the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Russia supplied about 40% of the natural gas of the European Union. Putin told a televised government meeting that so-called partners from unfriendly countries admit that they cannot survive without Russian energy, including natural gas, and that there is no reasonable substitute for Russian natural gas in Europe.

CCTV News reported that on April 15, local time, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Nowak published an article saying that without Russian energy, it would be impossible to talk about ensuring European energy security. Western countries are unlikely to completely replace Russian oil and gas in the next five to 10 years.

At the same time, Novak further said that the reason for settling natural gas transactions in rubles is that Russia wants to get a 100% payment guarantee, and some European countries that import Russian natural gas have agreed to pay in rubles instead. Russia is waiting for a decision from other European countries.

At present, Russian military operations are still continuing. On April 15, local time, the Russian Defense Ministry issued an announcement announcing that the number and scale of missile strikes against military facilities in Kiev would increase, according to CCTV news.

Ukrainian media reported that violent explosions were heard in Ukraine, including Kiev, the southern city of Helsong, the eastern city of Kharkov and the western city of Ivano-Frankovsk, and air raid sirens sounded in many parts of Ukraine.

In addition, according to a report by the Washington Post on April 14 local time, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has sent a note to the United States warning that the United States and NATO's arms shipments to Ukraine are aggravating the conflict between Russia and Ukraine and may bring "unpredictable consequences." On April 13, US President Joe Biden approved an additional $800 million in military aid to Ukraine, and the US Defense Department also said it would strengthen the training of Ukrainian troops so that Ukrainian soldiers can use aided weapons.

India is a big buyer of crude oil and coal.

In fact, before that, Russia's energy had already begun to shift to Asia, and the biggest buyer was India.

On April 15, the Global Times quoted Bloomberg as saying that India was becoming a big buyer of Russian oil and was snapping up Russian energy products "banned" by European importers.

India has bought at least 13 million barrels of Russian crude since late February, compared with about 16 million barrels from Russia in 2021, according to the Russian satellite news agency.

In addition to crude oil, India is also buying large quantities of Russian coal, which is banned by the European Union. According to CNBC, India imported 1.04 million tons of coal from Russia in March, the highest level since January 2020, of which as much as 2 of the imports were issued by Russian ports in the far East. India's steel minister said the country had imported 4.5 million tons of coking coal from Russia and that India could double its imports of Russian coking coal used to make steel in the future.

It is worth mentioning that India is the world's second largest consumer and importer of coal, accounting for about 70% of India's electricity generation, according to the IEA India Energy Outlook report 2021.

In addition to meeting domestic demand for imported Russian energy, India has also started the business of "middlemen earning the price difference". India's diesel exports reached their highest level since April 2020, reaching 847000 barrels a day in March, with about 30 per cent of them arriving in Europe, where ultra-low sulphur diesel is $100per tonne higher than Singapore, according to Bloomberg, citing data from Singapore and Kpler.

Bloomberg believes that if European sanctions are imposed on Russian oil in the future, international oil prices may continue to soar, and India can refine Russian crude oil into fuel products and sell them to Europe at high prices to make more profits.

India's act of "making a fortune in silence" is causing dissatisfaction in the United States. The White House has repeatedly pressed India for President Joe Biden to take a tougher stance against Russia, Bloomberg reported.

On the other hand, American arms companies are making huge profits. According to CCTV news, so far, the United States has provided Ukraine with 7000 javelin anti-tank missiles, accounting for 1/3 of its total inventory.

According to data, the javelin, jointly developed and produced by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, is a long-range guided anti-tank missile and one of the most advanced and expensive anti-tank weapons provided by Western countries to Ukraine.

The US military buys about 1000 "javelin" missiles every year, and the delivery time is 32 months after placing an order. After providing it to Ukraine, the United States is likely to increase its purchases from the two major arms companies to ensure adequate inventory.

In addition, according to White House data, the United States has provided Ukraine with 2000 "stingers." Analysts at a US think-tank estimate that this accounts for about 1/4 of US inventories.

On April 15, the overseas Network quoted India Today as saying that regardless of the outcome of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Western arms dealers have become the biggest winners, and the United States has announced that it will provide another $800 million in arms, ammunition and other forms of security assistance to Ukraine.

Britain increases sanctions

On Thursday, the British government said it had imposed sanctions on Eugene Tenenbaum and Davyd Davidovic, freezing assets worth up to 10 billion pounds (83.4 billion yuan).

It will be the largest asset freeze in UK history and will increase the total number of oligarchs, families and partners linked to Russia on the UK sanctions list to 106.

The two people sanctioned by Britain are both Russian asset tycoons. Davidovic was once a right-hand man to Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich and has been serving on the Chelsea board. Tenenbaum is one of Abramovich's closest business partners.

After the escalation of the crisis in Russia and Ukraine, Abramovich has transferred its entities holding investments in UK-listed companies to Tenenbaum and Davidovic, according to LSE documents.

As early as March 12 this year, Britain imposed sanctions on Abramovich and temporarily froze all his assets in Britain on the grounds that Abramovich had a close relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin. According to Forbes magazine, Abramovich is worth 10.4 billion pounds and has assets all over the world.

Authorities in Jersey have frozen more than $7 billion worth of assets suspected of being linked to Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich, the Global Times reported on April 15, citing CNBC.

It is worth mentioning that Britain froze two Russian tycoons at a time when a number of wealthy Americans were bidding for Roman Abramovich's Chelsea Football Club. The offer for the sale of Chelsea Football Club has been closed on April 14, Beijing time, and the winning bidder is expected to be confirmed next week. Chelsea are expected to be sold for 2.5 billion pounds (20.9 billion yuan), which could be the biggest deal in professional sports history, with four bidders shortlisted, all in cash, according to BBC.

Abramovich was not involved in the club's sale process and will not participate in any final distribution of the proceeds, according to people familiar with the matter.

With regard to the future disposal of Russian assets seized by sanctions, Sullivan, assistant to the US president for national security affairs, said that the United States does not intend to return assets seized as a result of sanctions to Russian entrepreneurs. The goal of the United States is to "use these assets in a better way," and the White House is discussing this issue.

According to CCTV News, citing Russian media, some US lawmakers have repeatedly called for the auction or liquidation of Russian assets seized and frozen due to sanctions under the banner of "used to rebuild Ukraine."