For the first time since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia is struggling to find enough buyers for its crude oil and is sending more tankers across the Suez Canal with no fixed destination. Pressure from the US has scared away many Indian buyers — some of Russia's most reliable customers until recently — who are now busy lining up alternatives. Buyers in Turkey also have slowed purchases, leaving Russian crude exporters even more reliant on China. And more Chinese-owned oil tankers are now appearing at Russian ports. Most of them belong to the "shadow fleet" that, together with a network of obscure trading companies, has dominated the Russian oil trade for the past three years.