India Cautions NATO on “Double Standards” Over Russia Trade

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 17th July: India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday responded firmly to remarks by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) chief Mark Rutte regarding potential sanctions over India’s trade with Russia, cautioning against “double standards.”

MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal, during a weekly media briefing in Delhi, stated, “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.” Mr. Jaiswal further warned, “In this endeavour, we are guided by what is on offer in the markets and by prevailing global circumstances. We would particularly caution against any double standards on the matter.”

Rutte had warned on Wednesday that countries such as Brazil, China, and India could face severe secondary sanctions if they continued to do business with Russia. His comments came during a meeting with senators in the US Congress, following US President Donald Trump’s announcement of new weapons for Ukraine and a threat of 100 percent tariffs on any country buying Russian exports unless a peace deal is reached within 50 days.

“My encouragement to these three countries, particularly, is, if you live now in Beijing, or in Delhi, or you are the president of Brazil, you might want to take a look into this, because this might hit you very hard,” Rutte told reporters. He urged them to “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, on India and on China in a massive way.”

India’s Stance and Diversified Energy Sources
Despite these warnings, European and NATO members continue to be major purchasers of Russian energy exports. According to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air, the EU has been the largest buyer of Russian liquified natural gas and pipeline gas since 2022, while Turkey, a NATO member, has been the largest buyer of Russian oil products. The EU has proposed phasing out Russian oil and natural gas imports by 2027 and January 2028, respectively.

Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri also addressed the issue on Thursday, asserting that India could meet its oil requirements through “alternative sources” if Russian supplies were affected by secondary sanctions. “I’m not worried at all. If something happens, we’ll deal with it. India has diversified the sources of supply and we have gone, I think, from about 27 countries that we used to buy from to about 40 countries now,” Puri said, as reported by Reuters.