India’s decision to import more oil from Russia will be guided by its energy security requirements, the Ministry of External Affairs has reiterated.
“You would note that many regions and countries have taken policy decisions recently with a similar perspective. We would like to reiterate that this is not an India-related issue at all,” MEA Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said responding to a media query on India’s plans of oil purchase from Russia on Thursday.
New Delhi’s imports of oil from Russia have been rising since the country invaded Ukraine on February 24, per data shared by Refinitiv Eikon, one of the world’s largest providers of financial markets data and infrastructure. One of the reasons could be the discounts offered by Russia on its oil.
Although Western nations, including the US and the EU, have been putting pressure on India to curtail its purchase from Moscow, India has been maintaining that its imports were only a fraction of its total oil imports and was based on the country’s energy security requirements.