Shunned by the West, Russia was able last year to redirect its potent oil exports to Asia, marshal a fleet of tankers unencumbered by Western penalties and adapt evasion schemes perfected previously by its allies Iran and Venezuela.
The strategy worked: President Vladimir Putin not only retained but increased money from energy exports, according to official data, and may have brought in more cash, collected in the shadows of the oil trade, that could be helping the war effort.
But it’s not clear if Russia can keep outmaneuvering efforts to throttle oil revenue. There are signs that Western controls that took effect in December — an embargo on most sales to Europe,
