Picture : Twitter/ ANI
Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri on Saturday said that India is under no pressure to shun Russian oil.
As reported by ANI , In a bilateral meeting with US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm, Puri said that the Indian government has a moral duty to provide energy to its citizens and it will continue to buy oil from wherever it has to.
Have I been told by anyone to stop buying Russian oil? The answer is a categorical No,” Puri told reporters in Washington.
“India will buy oil from wherever it has to for the simple reason that this kind of a discussion cannot be taken to the consuming population of India,” he added.
Since the start of the Ukraine conflict. India has sought to carve a middle path between Moscow and its Western critics and so far largely resisted Western pressure to cut its economic ties with the Kremlin.
The US is holding “deep talks” with India over the latter’s reliance on Russian arms and oil, according to media reports citing a state department official. The official claimed that Indian representatives are starting to look at other markets to meet their demands as they try to become less dependent on Moscow for oil purchases.
