Russia fails to export oil through Baltic despite easing US sanctions - FIS
The temporary easing of sanctions pressure from Washington did not bring the expected relief to the russian energy sector. According to the results of March 2026, russia not only failed to increase the shipment of raw materials, but also demonstrated a decline in indicators in key export hubs. This is reported by the Foreign Intelligence Service (FIS).
The main reason was large-scale infrastructure restrictions and a number of force majeure circumstances that paralyzed the work of the largest ports.
According to analytical data from S&P Global Platts, the average daily transshipment of oil through russian sea terminals in March decreased to 3.46 million barrels. A similar reduction affected petroleum products, the export volumes of which fell to 2.19 million barrels per day. The most critical situation was in the Baltic direction, where the ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga recorded a rapid collapse in activity at the end of the month.
In particular, in Primorsk, shipment volumes fell from over 1.1 million barrels to a critical 732,000 per day. An even more dramatic picture was observed in the port of Ust-Luga, where oil exports in the last week of March decreased almost fivefold - to 105,000 barrels per day. In the same port, shipments of finished oil products practically stopped completely at the end of the month due to disruptions in the port infrastructure.
These indicators indicate that internal technical problems and wear and tear of export capacities are becoming no less of a challenge for the Kremlin than international restrictions. Despite Washington's attempts to temporarily stabilize the market by easing sanctions, russia has been unable to take advantage of this window of opportunity due to a deep crisis in the logistics vertical.
As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Ukrainian drone attacks on russian ports on the Baltic Sea have led to a record reduction in oil exports from the russian federation.
On March 26, Reuters reported that the latest Ukrainian attacks, in particular on ports on the Baltic Sea, have temporarily caused russia to lose 40% of its oil export capacity.
Ukraine also continues to ignore calls from foreign partners to stop attacks on russian energy facilities, despite fears of a deepening global oil and gas crisis.
On April 6, the General Staff confirmed the strikes on the oil terminal in Novorossiysk and a Be-12 aircraft in Crimea.
The Lukoil-Nizhegorodnefteorgsintez (NORSI) enterprise in the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast of the aggressor country of russia suspended operations after the attack by a Ukrainian drone. It is the fourth largest oil refinery in the russian federation.