External Ministry Shoots Back On India Purchase Of Oil From Russia In US Dialogue

External Affairs Minister, S. Jaishankar has shot back at the allegation of funding the Russian war against Ukraine as he says that India’s purchase from Russia amounts to its one-month consumption what Europe consumes in a day.

The Ukraine war has now waged on for more than a month creating a mounting human rights catastrophe in the lives of innocent Ukrainians aswell. While the Western world has been advocating for a trade boycott of Russia, India has continued to purchase crude from it.

Justifying the Indian move, Mr. Jaishankar said, “We buy some energy necessary for our energy security. But I suspect, looking at figures, our purchases for the month would be less than what Europe does in an afternoon.”

“We’re against the conflict, we’re up for a dialogue and diplomacy, we’re for urgent cessation of violence and we are prepared to contribute in whatever way we can. We have made a number of statements that outline our positions in our parliament and in other forums as US secretary of state Antony Blinken pointed out,” the 67-year-old minister said as he shared the stage with US leaders. Mr. Jaishankar was visiting US over the ongoing US-India 2plus2 dialogue.

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It is worth noting that even Europe has not stopped purchasing crude from Russia. Earlier on, with talks in India, the Russian foreign minister in the beginning of April had asked the Centre to focus on Russia’s complete position and not look at it from only one perspective. He anyway reiterated the fact that ties between the two countries have been very strong despite many difficulties, adding that Russia continues to implement projects in various areas including science, energy, pharmaceuticals, and more. It is therefore no exaggeration that Russia continues to supply oil to Europe much more in a day than it does to India for a whole year.

Europe is heavily dependent on Russia for its oil and gas. In 2021, two-fifths of the gas Europeans burned came from Russia. And over a quarter of the EU’s imported crude oil comes from Russia. In 2021, the EU imported $108 billion (€99bn) worth of energy from Russia, by far its biggest import from the country.