India is neither the biggest purchaser of Russian oil nor it has the biggest trade surge with Moscow after 2022, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said recently , in what appears to be the first clear response by a top government functionary following the US slapping an additional 25 percent tariff on Indian goods for buying Russian oil.
PTI reported thet EAM Jaishankar made the remarks in response to a question at a joint media briefing with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
“We are not the biggest purchaser of Russian oil. That is China. We are not the biggest purchaser of Russian LNG. I’m not sure, but I think that is the European Union,” he said.
“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 added.
The external affairs minister, who is on a three-day visit to Moscow, also suggested that the US was supportive of India procuring crude oil from Russia as it stabilised the energy market.
“We are a country where actually the Americans said for the last few years that we should do everything to stabilise the world energy markets, including buying oil from Russia,” Jaishankar said.
“Incidentally, we also buy oil from America, and that amount has been increasing. So, quite honestly, we are very perplexed at the logic of the argument that you had referred to,” he said.
Jaishankar was asked about White House trade advisor Peter Navarro’s criticism of India for purchasing Russian crude oil.
