‘US asked us to buy Russian Oil, later lifted it’; India hits out at double standards

HELSINKI: Union External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has criticized US' double standards and defended India's decision to buy Russian oil. India started buying Russian oil after the Ukraine invasion in 2022. At that time, US had imposed sanctions on Russian oil in response to the invasion of Ukraine. Jaishankar's response was while speaking at an official event during his visit to Finland.

‘US had specifically asked India to buy Russian oil to stabilize the oil market. I buy oil based on price and availability. At that time, the Europeans were buying oil from the Middle East, so a large part of the oil available in the market was from Russia. So, the situation put pressure on India. The US, which first imposed duties on us for buying Russian oil, later lifted the sanctions. I don't think there was any great principle involved here,’ said Jaishankar.

Trade relations between the US and India had deteriorated after US President Donald Trump imposed a 50 per cent tariff on exports from India. This included a 25 per cent penalty on purchases of Russian oil. However, after the war with Iran began, the US lifted sanctions on Russian oil.