Many countries want to buy Russian oil — Novak

Many countries are interested in buying Russian oil and petroleum products, including Latin American and African states, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said in an interview aired by the Rossiya-24 TV news channel.

"Of course, there are supplies (from Russia) to other countries as well. There are many those willing to buy Russian oil, petroleum products. Those are both Latin American countries, African (countries), other states of the Asian-Pacific region, but if we speak about the main partners in general, those are new supply routes, supplies, new transport routes, including the ones using the Northern Sea Route," he said.

Russia carried 1.5 mln tons of oil via the Northern Sea Route in 2023, Novak added, noting that "this is a very profitable transport route, which is roughly two times shorter than traditional routes via the Mediterranean Sea, the Indian Ocean and so on."

In the current situation Russia’s main partners are China, whose share has risen to around 45-50%, and India, the official said. "Previously there were almost no supplies to India. The total share of supplies to India has reached around 40% in the past two years," he said.