In Vladivostok, Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that it was “more profitable to export crude oil than to process it domestically” amid rising energy prices, in an apparent bid to downplay Russia’s ongoing fuel crisis. Which is wrong – according to a new think tank report, at any rate.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. The latest analysis from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), a Finland-based energy think tank, noted that both Russia’s fossil fuel exports and revenues fell month-on-month in August – by 7% and 8%, respectively. In short, what Russia lost in refining capacity owing to Ukrainian strikes was not made up for by diversified exports – what’s worse, it also had to rely on India and South Korea for historic gasoline imports. Record lows in exports “Ukrainian refinery strikes see Russia’s oil product exports hit record lows and Moscow turn to importing fuels from South Korea and India,” the report states. CREA, in its previous reports, said Russia’s energy export volumes remained relatively flat despite falling revenues, with a 12% month-on-month drop in July, compared to a 7% rise in export volumes, and a 1% revenue drop in June. That is compared to a modest 2% revenue growth in May, thanks to rising energy prices. Come August, Russia’s export revenues fell by 8% month-on-month to €604 million ($700 million) per day, which is approximately $21.7 billion throughout the whole month.