New Delhi: India has slammed comments by the Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), Mark Rutte, who earlier threatened secondary sanctions on New Delhi over its links to Moscow, warning the Western military alliance against following ‘double standards’.
On Thursday, Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, said at a regular press briefing, “We have seen reports on the subject and are closely following the developments. Let me reiterate that securing the energy needs of our people is understandably an overriding priority for us. In this endeavour, we are guided by what is on offer in the markets and the prevailing global circumstances. We would particularly caution against any double standards on the matter.”
The comments by Jaiswal came after Rutte, speaking to the media in Washington, DC, earlier in the week, warned Brazil, India, and China of secondary sanctions the US could impose on them for their continued purchase of Russian energy goods.
“My encouragement to these three countries, particularly, is if you live now in Beijing, or Delhi, or you’re the president of Brazil, you might want to take a look into this, because this might hit you very hard,” Rutte said Tuesday, according to a Bloomberg report.
The ex-Prime Minister of the Netherlands added, “So please make the phone call to Vladimir Putin and tell him that he has to get serious about peace talks, because otherwise this will slam back on Brazil, India, and China in a massive way.”
Rutte’s warning came after US President Donald Trump gave Russian President Vladimir V. Putin an ultimatum Monday—50 days to enter peace talks with Ukraine or face secondary sanctions of up to 100 percent.
Secondary sanctions would impact developing countries trading with Russia. For example, India has expanded its purchase of energy goods from Russia, with the purchasing cost of petroleum products in the 2024-2025 financial year crossing $56 billion.
A US company paying 100 percent of the duty on Indian goods will, in turn, affect Indian exports to the US.
The US remains India’s largest export market. In the 2024-2025 financial year, India exported goods worth $86 billion to the US, roughly $50 billion higher than the country receiving the second-largest exports of Indian goods—the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
US Senator Lindsey Graham is also working on bipartisan legislation to allow Trump to impose up to 500 percent tariffs on any nation funding the Russian war machine. Moscow launched its attack on Ukraine earlier in February 2022.
India, at various times, has faced pressure from the West to cut its ties with Russia, but in the last three years, its imports of petroleum products from Moscow have increased.
Trump has attempted various approaches to find an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, first applying pressure on Kyiv to come to the table amid his attempt to negotiate with Putin.
In recent weeks, the US President has vented his frustration with Moscow publicly before announcing his support for the transfer of weapons to Ukraine. Under a new deal unveiled Monday, its European allies will purchase arms from the US before exporting them to Kyiv.
India has maintained its position that the Russia-Ukraine war can end only through diplomacy. Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited both countries in 2024. However, threats of applying further economic pressure on Russia under the current trade ties could, in a negative way, impact New Delhi.
India is conducting hectic negotiations with the US to reach a mini-trade deal and hopes to reduce the 26 percent additional tariff announced by Trump in April.
The two nations have already established a bilateral understanding on contentious issues, such as agriculture and dairy, as reported earlier by ThePrint. The deal will soon be public.
(Edited by Madhurita Goswami)
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