Bankrupt Sri Lanka, which has said it has less than a day of fuel left, is looking to buy cheap Russian oil

Sri Lanka is going to send an official delegation to Russia to negotiate oil deals as it faces a fuel shortage.

The island nation with a population of 22 million is running out of foreign exchange reserves due to the depreciation of its currency against the US dollar. Protests are taking place because of shortages from fuel to food.

There is less than a day's worth of fuel left in the country. The country decided to restrict the sale of fuel to essential businesses for two weeks.

According to various media outlets, the administration of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is trying to buy Russian oil to manage the crisis.

A minister-led team will visit Moscow next week to discuss how to get oil from Russia, according to a report.

Russian oil would be taken. In an exclusive interview with the outlet, Wickremesinghe said he believed Russian oil had arrived in Sri Lankan.

Purchases of Russian energy products are not in violation of US or EU sanctions because of the war in Ukraine. The trade restrictions do not prevent buyers outside the US and EU from buying Russian oil.

A Sri Lankan minister was in the Middle East last week to negotiate energy deals, while another was expected to head to Russia, according to a report.

In June, he told the AP that the country may have to buy from Russia. We'll get from there if we can get from any other sources. He said that they might have to go to Russia again.

In May, SriLanka received Russian oil and was looking to import other fuels such as coal, diesel, and gasoline from the East European country, according to the Agence France-Presse.

Sri Lanka will stop paying external debt in April because it needs its foreign reserves to pay for imports. In May, the country missed its debt payments. The International Monetary Fund is in talks with it.