Russia starts direct commercial flights between Moscow and Pyongyang
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who visited North Korea's new Wonsan-Kalma beach resort earlier this month to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, promised to encourage Russian tourists to visit the complex.
The resort, which can accommodate nearly 20,000 people, is at the center of Kim's push to boost tourism to improve his country's troubled economy. North Korea has been slowly easing the curbs imposed during the pandemic and reopening its borders in phases. But the country hasn't said if it would fully resume international tourism.
Regular flights between Russia's eastern port city of Vladivostok and Pyongyang reopened in 2023 following a break caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
Russia and North Korea have sharply expanded military and other ties in recent years, with Pyongyang supplying weapons and troops to back Russia's military action in Ukraine.
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Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Value of India's crude imports from Russia surges significantly at a CAGR of 96% during FY20-FY25: Report
Live Events (You can now subscribe to our (You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel New Delhi: India's oil and gas sector is undergoing a strategic transformation amid a fast-changing global landscape marked by shifting alliances, sanctions, and rising geopolitical uncertainty, according to the recent Rubix Industry Insights a significant shift, Russian oil now dominates India's crude basket, accounting for about 35 per cent of total imports in Financial Year (FY) 2025, it was mere just 2 per cent in FY2020. The value of these imports has surged at a 96 per cent of compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the past five rebalancing is driven mainly by cost advantages and alternative transport routes that bypass the volatile Strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile, the share of Middle Eastern suppliers has fallen, prompting geopolitical and commercial with the US pushing for steep tariffs on Russian-linked petroleum exports and the EU tightening its sanctions regime, India is taking steps to protect a significant share of its petroleum product (POL) exports, valued at USD 44.4 billion in has emerged as the seventh-largest exporter of refined petroleum products, with the Netherlands, UAE, and Singapore as key the supply side, India is the world's third-largest crude oil importer, with demand projected to rise from 5.64 million barrels per day in 2024 to 6.66 million bpd by domestic production continues to decline, dropping from 32.2 MMT in FY2020 to 28.7 MMT in FY2025. As a result, India's crude import dependency has reached 88.2 per capacity, however, has expanded modestly to 257 MMTPA across 23 refineries, making India the world's fourth-largest refining hub. The government aims to increase this to 309.5 MMTPA by 2030, backed by major investments from state-run firms like IOCL BPCL , and HPCL Natural gas, another critical pillar, saw demand reach 71 BCM in FY2025, with 50 per cent met through LNG US has overtaken the UAE as India's second-largest LNG supplier, aided by lifted export bans and long-term plans to double its share of gas in the energy mix to 15 per cent by 2030, supported by pipeline expansion and regasification initiatives have also propelled reforms in upstream exploration. Under the Hydrocarbon Exploration and Licensing Policy (HELP), the 10th OALP round offered 25 new blocks, and the Special CBM Round targeted unconventional gas extraction. These efforts are supported by updated regulations and policies aimed at attracting report notes that India's clean energy push is gaining traction. The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana ( PMUY ) has expanded LPG access to over 103 million households, while ethanol blending touched 20 per cent in early 2025--six years ahead of schedule. City gas distribution is also being ramped up, aiming to cover 70 per cent of the challenges remain. Price volatility, US sanctions on Russian oil, and lagging domestic output pose persistent threats. The report warns that refinery capacity additions have lagged behind targets, and Middle East tensions could disrupt crucial supply lines. (ANI)
Economic Times
2 hours ago
- Economic Times
India and Taiwan were leading buyers of Russian naphtha in June, LSEG data shows
Synopsis In June, India and Taiwan emerged as the primary destinations for Russian seaborne naphtha exports, driven by competitive pricing and robust domestic demand. India's imports reached 250,000 tons, while Taiwan doubled its intake to 234,000 tons. Due to Red sea crisis, shipments are being rerouted via Southern Africa, impacting delivery times and costs. Agencies India and Taiwan were the leading destinations for Russian seaborne naphtha exports in June, as cheaper volumes and domestic demand attracted buyers, according to traders and LSEG data. Naphtha is a primary feedstock in the petrochemical industry for producing olefins and aromatics, which are then used to manufacture a wide array of products, including plastics, synthetic resins, synthetic fibers, and various other chemicals. Since the European Union's full embargo on Russian oil products went into effect in February 2023, countries in the Middle East and Asia have become the main destinations for Russia's naphtha supplies. Naphtha export shipments from Russian ports to India in June totalled 250,000 metric tons, down 5% from May, and exceeded 1.4 million tons in the first half of 2025. Russian naphtha arrived at the western Indian ports of Mundra, Hazira, and Sikka, shipping data showed. India partially replaced naphtha purchases from the United Arab Emirates with cheaper Russian supplies in order to reduce import costs. Naphtha exports from Russian ports to Taiwan reached 234,000 tons last month, double their May level, and totalled 1.27 million tons between January and June, according to LSEG data. Singapore, Malaysia, Turkey and China were among the other top destinations for Russian naphtha export supplies in June. Ship-tracking data showed that no cargoes from Russian ports arrived in Fujairah in the United Arab Emirates in June. Russia had supplied 80,000 tons to the UAE in May. Vessels carrying nearly 300,000 tons of Russian naphtha loaded last month are heading to Asia via Southern Africa's Cape of Good Hope. Asia received 150,000 tons in May. Traders have been diverting Russian oil products cargoes around Africa since December 2023 to avoid the Red Sea due to a heightened risk of attacks by Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group. All the shipping data above are based on the date of cargo departure.
Time of India
3 hours ago
- Time of India
‘Would you rather we switch off our economy,' Indian envoy asks, defending buying oil from Russia
LONDON: Indian high commissioner to the UK Vikram Doraiswami has defended India buying oil from Russia and its close relationship with Moscow, saying to a British journalist: 'Do you want us to switch off our economy?' Doraiswami was speaking to Times Radio when asked by its political editor, Kate McCann, whether he felt comfortable with the 'closeness' of New Delhi's relationship with President Putin. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now 'We have a relationship that is based on a number of metrics — one of these is our long-standing security relationship that goes back to an era in which some of our Western partners wouldn't sell us weapons, but would sell them to countries in our neighbourhood which used them only to attack us,' Doraiswami replied. 'Second, we have an energy relationship today which is the result of everybody else buying energy from sources that we used to earlier buy from, so we have been displaced out of the energy market, largely, and the costs have gone up. We are the third-largest consumer of energy in the world and we import over 80% of our product. What would you have us do? Switch off our economy?' 'Thirdly, we also see around us relationships that other countries maintain for their own convenience with countries that are a source of difficulty for us. Do we ask you to come up with the litmus test of loyalty,' he said. McCann pressed whether India should be accepting Russian oil, pointing out that Nayara's Vadinar refinery in Gujarat had recently been sanctioned by the EU for refining Russian crude. 'We are the fourth-largest refiner of energy in the world and a number of countries in Europe buy refined oil from us, which ought to tell you something, and also many of our European partners are continuing to buy rare earth and other energy products, not oil perhaps, from the same countries that they are refusing to let us buy from. You wouldn't think that seems a little odd,' Doraiswami said. McCann asked whether PM Narendra Modi would be willing to discuss with Putin ending the war in Ukraine. 'Our consistent position, as our PM has repeatedly said, is that this isn't an era of war. He has made that point to the president of Russia and the president of Ukraine. We are very keen for this terrible conflict to stop, as we are keen for conflicts across the world to stop,' Doraiswami said. Tired of too many ads? go ad free now McCann also probed about a 'new pact between India, Russia and China', asking: 'Do you feel comfortable with those relationships, because the leaders of those countries are roundly condemned by others in Europe?' Doraiswami denied there was ever any such pact and said there had just been a 'trilateral meeting format' which had not happened in a long time. 'It was a format in which we had our leadership coordinate across a range of security-related issues,' he said. 'We are neighbours of China, and China is a neighbour of Russia. It is reasonable that we coordinate our security interests,' he said.
