Without directly attacking the United States, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has strongly defended India’s sovereign energy purchases, saying New Delhi’s strategic procurement of Russian crude oil since 2022 was actually aligned with explicit requests from Washington to stabilise global markets and prevent a phenomenal surge in global prices.
Speaking at the Kultaranta Talks in Finland during a session titled ‘Emerging Powers and the New Geopolitical Competition,’ he spoke at length on what prompted India to increase oil purchases from Russia following the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
He explained that following Western sanctions on Moscow, European nations started looking for alternative oil supplies from West Asian nations which have traditionally been India’s primary energy partner.
“At that time, the US specifically asked India to buy Russian oil to stabilise the oil market,” the minister claimed, decoding India’s strategy to deal with the energy crisis in the wake of the conflict in Europe.
Jaishankar rejected the notion that Western pressure was built on core values, criticising the shifting policies where the US initially requested India’s market intervention, subsequently introduced tariffs, and later rescinded them.
He stressed that India has successfully diversified its energy basket, with Russia remaining a steady partner for crude imports while the US stands as its top supplier of natural gas.
Jaishankar’s unambiguous remarks come days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi travels to France for the G7 Summit next week. There is a possibility of a bilateral meeting between the PM and US President Donald Trump.
Responding to a journalist’s accusation that India was “too sympathetic to Russia,” Jaishankar asserted that market circumstances dictated New Delhi’s shift. With Europe consuming West Asian oil, the bulk of the available global supply was Russian. India’s decision to buy based on cost and availability not only protected domestic consumers from soaring inflation but also functioned as a critical stabilising force for the global economy, he added.