NEW DELHI: As Russian refineries came under attack from Ukraine, damaging energy infrastructure and crippling domestic fuel supplies, Moscow imported a record 172,000 tonnes of oil products in Aug, with nearly 70% of it coming from India, Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) has said in its monthly report.India, however, remained the second-largest importer of crude oil from Russia in Aug, behind only China, though its imports decreased compared with the previous two months.According to the report, India’s exports to Moscow included 1,20,000 tonnes of gasoline (petrol) worth 78 million euros, refined from Russian crude at a refinery in India partly owned by Russia’s Rosneft.“Russia’s import volumes in Aug 2026 were more than seven times the previous monthly high recorded since the full-scale invasion (of Ukraine) and three times the total import volume for the whole of 2025,” CREA said in its analysis of Russian fossil fuel exports and sanctions for Aug.The report added that all the gasoline was loaded at Gujarat’s Vadinar refinery and sold by EU-sanctioned Nayara Energy to Rosneft. Rosneft holds 49.1% of Nayara Energy, while Vadinar got 100% of its crude from Russia in the first eight months of 2026, up from 81% across 2025. “Russia is therefore paying a refinery that it partly owns to process its own crude into fuel it can no longer produce domestically, before shipping it back halfway around the world,” the report stated.CREA said each cargo of gasoline exported from Vadinar to Russia was transferred between vessels in a ship-to-ship operation off Egypt before being unloaded at Russia’s Arctic port of Beloe More.One of the largest exporters of refined petroleum products, Russia has seen its gasoline imports surge recently. Compared with 6% on aver-age between 2023 and 2025, gasoline imports accounted for 74% of its total oil-product imports in Aug. South Korea and Egypt also exported to Russia.Of the 4.8 billion euros of hydrocarbons imported by India from Russia in Aug, crude oil accounted for 4.1 billion euros, or 87%, CREA said. Indian imports of Russian crude, however, fell 24% from July after reaching record levels in the previous two months.