Russia is slowly being phased out by the UK amid its invasion of Ukraine.
Key details
In June, five months into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the UK imported no fuel from Russia for the first time ever recorded. The UK government has planned to phase out all Russian purchases of natural gas and oil after its invasion of Ukraine, and June was a success.
Figures, released by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday, showed fuel imports from Russia, which averaged £499 million (roughly $6 million) a month in the year through February, fell to zero for the first time in data going back to 1997, according to Bloomberg.
Why it’s important
Before Russia invaded Ukraine, they were the number one supplier of refined oil for the UK. Russia accounted for 24.1% of all imports of refined oil as well as 5.9% of the UK’s crude oil imports, and 4.9% of gas imports.
Since the UK is phasing out Russian imports, imports have had to find the materials in other places. There have been increases in imports of refined oil from Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Belgium and Kuwait in recent months, according to the Office of National Statistics.
Imports from Russia totaled at around £33 million in June, down about 97% from the average in the year before the invasion, says Bloomberg.
Backing up a bit
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24. The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin invaded the country with the intention of overrunning the country and taking over its government.
Since the war began thousands have died, and thousands more have fled to other countries, and many Ukrainian cities have been destroyed. The war rages on and it is not clear when it will end.
