Jaishankar defends India’s purchase of Russian oil with the remark, “I am smart enough”
GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 18th Feb. During an interactive session with US Foreign Secretary Anthony Blinken at a security conference in Munich, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar was asked about India continuing to buy crude oil from Russia despite the Vladimir Putin-led country’s ongoing conflict with Ukraine.
Why is this a problem? I possess the intelligence to possess multiple alternatives. You should be admiring and not criticising others. Is this a problem for others? I am not convinced.
In that particular context, Jaishankar elaborated on the diverse forces and pressures that nations encounter, stating that diverse nations possess distinct histories and challenges, rendering it arduous to establish a one-dimensional relationship.
I do not want you to give the impression that we are purely transactional, even inadvertently. Neither are we. We are able to establish rapport with individuals, hold beliefs, and engage in mutual exchanges, however, there are instances when we are situated in diverse locations, possess different levels of maturity, and have encountered diverse experiences, all of which contribute to this phenomenon, he elaborated.
Jaishankar on the Gaza situation.
He explained that life is complicated and differentiated. Jaishankar said that good partners provide choices, but smart partners take some of those choices.
I believe it is important to distinguish between being non-West and anti-West. I would certainly characterise India as a country which is non-West but which has extremely strong relations with the Western countries that is getting better by the day. The bilateral trade volume between India and Russia experienced a significant increase in light of New Delhi’s increasing procurement of discounted Russian crude oil.
In an exclusive interview, last year, US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy Resources Geoffrey R Pyatt stated that there is no contradiction in India remaining one of the key global partners of the United States and the country’s increasing procurement of discounted crude oil from Russia. The remarks were the initial explicit articulation of the Biden administration’s stance on India’s escalating procurement of discounted crude oil from Russia amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
When questioned about whether the United States would impose additional sanctions on Indian banks if they utilize the Rupee-Rouble mechanism established by India and Russia for bilateral trade, the top diplomat declined to speculate on the matter, stating that the sanctions were solely aimed at punishing Moscow.
The US Assistant Secretary of State for Energy also said that Indian companies are negotiating the price for Russian crude oil very successfully, which enabled Indian refiners to put the product on the global market at a “very competitive and profitable price.”
