Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar did not hold back in putting forth New Delhi’s stand on importing oil from Russia in his meeting with his UK counterpart Liz Truss.
Jaishankar defended India’s “good deal” for oil import amid market volatility from Russia during Truss’ day-long visit which aimed to act as a diplomatic push for the Ukraine crisis.
“When the oil prices go up, I think it is natural for countries to go out into the market and look for good deals for their people,” Jaishankar said.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar made the remarks at the India-UK Strategic Futures Forum, shortly after holding extensive talks with Truzz on a range of issues, including the Ukraine crisis.
Jaishankar’s comments came on a day Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov arrived in India on a two-day visit.
During the India-UK Strategic Futures Forum, organised by the Indian Council of World Affairs and Policy Exchange jointly, Truss said that the UK is ending its dependence on Russian oil by the end of this year.
“India is a sovereign nation. I’m not going to tell India what to do,” she said.
In response, Jaishankar, noting a report that said that Europe bought 15 per cent more oil and gas from Russia in March than in February, said that most of the major buyers of Russian oil and gas were from Europe. The bulk of India’s energy supplies is from the Middle East and 8 per cent from the US. He said that less than 1 per cent of India’s crude purchases were from Russia.
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“But I am pretty sure if we wait for two or three months and actually look at who are the big buyers of Russian oil and gas, I suspect the list would not be too different from what it used to be and I suspect we won’t be in the top 10 on that list,” he said.
“It is interesting because we have seen for some time what looks almost like a campaign on this issue. I was reading a report today that in March, Europe has bought, I think, 15 per cent more oil and gas from Russia than it did the month before,” Jaishankar said.
There is an increasing disquiet in the western capitals over India not criticising Russia for its attack on Ukraine and its decision to buy discounted Russian crude oil. Russia’s has offered to discount oil prices by $35 a barrel to the price levels that were before the start of the Ukraine war.
Not only the UK, the US too, has criticised India’s energy imports from Russia. India bought at least 13 million barrels of Russian crude since it started its invasion of Ukraine. US Deputy National Security Adviser for International Economics Daleep Singh said, “Friends don’t set red lines.”
Singh urged the European and Asian partners to cut their reliance on “an unreliable energy supplier”.
Singh said the US was ready to help India diversify its energy and defence supplies. “What we would not like to see is a rapid acceleration of India’s imports from Russia as it relates to energy or any other exports that are currently being prohibited by us or by other aspects of the international sanctions regime.”