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Putin’s Oil Industry Is Back In Full Flow, But It Is Crippling The Kremlin

Russia can’t play the long game anymore.

Putin’s world is powered by oil. This sinful black gold is the backbone of the Kremlin, providing a massive 45% of its revenue. Without its planet-destroying oil industry, Russia would be nothing — an international nobody with barely enough funds to keep itself afloat. The West was aware of this fact, and in retaliation for Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, they sanctioned Russian oil by implementing price caps and banning seaborne Russian oil. This genius move kneecapped Putin’s oil industry, dramatically shrinking his country’s exports and destroying its profit margins, which, in turn, starved the Kremlin of vital capital and slowed down Putin’s war machine. However, recent analysis shows that Putin has managed to save his oil industry, but all is not quite as it seems. Let me explain.

Let’s start at the beginning. Before the war, the EU accounted for 66% of Russia’s oil exports. Putin believed that this put him at an advantage, as the West relied on his oil, and they couldn’t risk losing this supply as it would cause vast economic upheaval. In other words, Putin could blackmail the West into submission like a mafia boss. But this didn’t happen. Instead, the EU imposed a deluge of sanctions on Russian oil and has since…