India bought oil from Russia 2022 onwards because it was cheap and available, and did so at the request of the US to keep global oil prices low, India’s foreign minister S. Jaishankar said.
“At that time, the US specifically asked India to buy Russian oil to stabilize the oil market,” Jaishankar said at an event in Kultaranta, Finland, Thursday. “I buy oil based on cost and availability.”
After the US imposed sanctions on Russia in 2022 for invading Ukraine and capped the price of its oil, India became a major buyer. “At that point of time, much of the oil available in the market was from Russia because Europeans were buying up the Middle East oil, which was our traditional supplier,” he said. “Circumstances pushed us in a certain direction.”
Jaishankar also criticized the on-and-off US sanctions on Russian oil. “Let’s not pretend there’s some great principle involved here,” he said. “I don’t think making this about sanctimony is really warranted.”
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