Foreign minister S Jaishankar, who met his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow on Thursday, said India is “very perplexed at the logic of the argument”, when asked about the US government's assertion that penal tariffs have been imposed on India for buying oil from Russia despite its war with Ukraine.
“We are not the biggest purchasers of Russian oil, that is China. We are not the biggest purchasers of LNG, that is the European Union. We are not the country which has the biggest trade surge with Russia after 2022; I think there are some countries to the south,” he said in response to a question at a joint press briefing with Lavrov.
The US has not imposed similar sanctions on China for its Russian oil imports yet. Justifying that, the US treasury secretary recently said that was because India, unlike China, increased its Russian import hugely after the war and has been “profiteering by reselling” the oil.
{{/usCountry}}The US has not imposed similar sanctions on China for its Russian oil imports yet. Justifying that, the US treasury secretary recently said that was because India, unlike China, increased its Russian import hugely after the war and has been “profiteering by reselling” the oil.
{{/usCountry}}Jaishankar, however, said on Thursday, “We are a country where the Americans have said for the last few years that we should do everything to stabilise the world energy market, including buying oil from Russia. Incidentally, we also buy oil from the US, and that amount has increased. So honestly, we are very perplexed at the logic of the argument that you (the media) had referred to.”
The Jaishankar-Lavrov meeting comes when the US under President Donald Trump has imposed tariffs of up to 50% on Indian exports to the US, as penalty for its trade with Russia.
In his remarks at the start of the briefing, Jaishankar underlined that India and Russia have been “the steadiest of the major relationships” in the world after World War 2. He stressed that “sustaining energy cooperation through trade and investments” with Russia is important to India.
"Our defence and military technical cooperation also remains robust. Russia supports India's 'Make in India' goals, including joint production and technology transfer," Jaishankar said.
On the meeting expressly, he said, "We reaffirmed our shared ambition to expand bilateral trade in a balanced and sustainable manner, including by increasing India's exports to Russia… Enhancing India's exports to Russia in sectors like agriculture, pharma, and textiles will certainly help correct the imbalance."
India is the second largest importer of Russian oil, behind China. The oil import has increased exponentially after the Russia-Ukraine war began, something the US cites as the reason why it has “imposed sanctions” on India.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly called for an end to the war through negotiation, and India stresses that its Russian oil imports are driven by sovereign factors such as availability, lower prices, and its national interest.