'Do We Switch Off Our Economy': Indian Envoy Defends Oil Imports From Russia

News18

5 days ago

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Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, defended India's continued oil imports from Russia, stating that New Delhi cannot be expected to shut down its economy.
Indian High Commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, recently suggested that India cannot be expected to shut down its economy over geopolitical concerns, as he defended New Delhi's continued oil imports from Russia.
In a conversation with British radio station, Times Radio, Doraiswami could be heard saying that many of India's European partners are continuing to buy rare earth and other energy products from the same countries that they're 'refusing to let us buy from".
Doraiswami's response came as he was questioned about India's closeness with Russia and President Vladimir Putin, and on Western criticism.
'We have a relationship that is based on a number of metrics," Doraiswami said.
'One of these is our long-standing security relationship that goes back to an era in which some of our Western partners wouldn't sell us weapons but would sell them to countries in our neighbourhood that use them only to attack us," the Indian High Commissioner to the UK said.
'Second, we have an energy relationship, which is the result of everybody else buying energy from sources that we used to buy from earlier".
'So we've been displaced out of the energy market largely, and the costs have gone up. We are the third-largest consumer of energy in the world. We import over 80 per cent of our products. What would you have us do? Switch off our economy?" he asked, as he stressed that the current energy relationship with Russia is shaped by rising costs and supply displacement caused by other countries' procurement choices.
'Third, we also see around us relationships that other countries maintain for their own convenience with countries that are a source of difficulty for us. Do we ask you to come up with a little test of loyalty?" he said.
India, the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer, received about 1.75 million barrels per day of Russian oil in January-June this year, up 1 per cent from a year ago.
India's purchases of Russian oil sold at discounted rates surged after Western nations imposed sanctions and stopped buying oil from Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump threatened sanctions on buyers of Russian exports unless Moscow agrees to a peace deal within 50 days.
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