Sri Lanka buys oil from Russia

Violent anti-government protests erupted this month, killing nine people

Sri Lanka, embroiled in an economic and political crisis, has obtained crude oil from Russia to run the country's only oil refinery. 

Sri Lanka is facing its worst crisis since independence. 

The country is short of petroleum products and other essential commodities. 

The government oil refinery Salon Petroleum Corporation was shut down in March due to a foreign exchange crisis and the government could not import crude oil. 

"Russian oil has been at the port of Colombo for a month, but the country did not have کروڑ 75 million to pay," said Sri Lankan Energy Minister Kanchana Vajisakera. 

"Sri Lanka is negotiating for direct crude oil, coal, diesel and petrol from Moscow, despite US sanctions on Russia. 

EU leaders are meeting on Monday to impose sanctions on Russia, including on oil. 

The ongoing economic crisis in Sri Lanka has led to long queues at petrol pumps and gas stations. 

In addition, the people of Sri Lanka are facing shortage of imported food and medicine as well as inflation and load shedding. 

Violent anti-government protests erupted this month in which nine people were killed and several injured. 

Protesters outside Gotabaya raja Paksha's office in Colombo have been protesting for 50 days, demanding the president resign.