gotchanewsdaily.com 
According to the report, Turkey — and the Western firms buying from it — is taking increasing advantage of this so-called refining loophole, despite repeated Ukrainian pleas that it be closed.
In the first half of 2024 alone, the EU, U.S., U.K. and other Western allies bought around $2 billion worth of fuel made from Russian oil by the trio of Turkish facilities, the report found. Turkey, meanwhile, has cashed in on discounts of from $5 to $20 per barrel from Moscow, stepping up its purchases from Russia annually by 34 percent in 2023 and a colossal 70 percent this year.
“When the EU imports gasoline from Turkey, it is 10 percent cheaper than it would be from Saudi Arabia,” said Vaibhav Raghunandan, an analyst with the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air. “But those savings aren’t passed on to consumers at all; it’s just companies and traders who benefit. Someone is making a killing from this trade, but it isn’t ordinary people.”
While EU and U.S. policymakers have defended the sanctions arrangement, arguing it deprives Moscow of a “refining premium” on its fuels, the fossil fuel industry remains a lifeline for Russia’s war machine. According to the analysis, the tax revenues collected by Moscow on the fuel sold to Western countries would allow Russia to recruit an additional 6,200 soldiers a month to fight in Ukraine.
Nor can Western countries claim ignorance of the fuel’s true origins.
According to the authors of the report, one of the Turkish refineries, the Azerbaijan-owned Star Aegean, is 98-percent dependent on Russian crude, with some 73 percent of its supplies coming from Russian energy giant Lukoil, which the U.S. has sanctioned. Nevertheless, almost nine in 10 barrels from the refinery go to Western allies backing Ukraine.
