‘Unjustified’: Russia Slams US Pressure on India Over Russian Crude Oil Purchases

On Wednesday, Russia rejected the tariffs imposed by the US on India to purchase Russian crude oil as unjustified and one-sided and added that the collaboration between Russia and India would go on, despite the external pressure, on energy-related matters.

At a briefing to reporters in New Delhi, Roman Babushkin, the deputy chief of mission, said that the US has weaponised the economy adding, “friends do not impose sanctions and Russia will never impose sanctions on India".

"You will never see sanctions imposed by Russia or within BRICS organisations where we together participate. Non-United Nations sanctions and secondary sanctions are illegal. They just weaponise the economy. Despite the tremendous sanction pressure on Russia, you will see the Russian economy is growing steadily. It means that you cannot exclude from the global economy such a big and important country like Russia with its tremendous energy, industrial and human potential, meaning that sanctions fail and moreover, they hit those who are imposing them," he said.

On August 27, President Donald Trump announced that 25 per cent tariffs on Indian exports will be imposed because their imports of Russian oil were increased due to Western countries sanctioning the Russia supply following its invasion of Ukraine.

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Nonetheless, the US has not gone to the extent of imposing similar tariffs on Chinese country on its imports of Russian oil.

He pointed out that Russia has developed a special mechanism so that supplies to India of crude can be uninterrupted because India currently obtains about 40 per cent of its oil requirements in Russia at an average discount of 5 per cent.

According to the Russian official, India and Russia are also on course to meet the goal of having bilateral trade turnover of $100 billion by 2030, pointing out that Moscow is seeking to minimise the imbalance in bilateral trade following its interest in increasing Indian exports of machinery, pharmaceuticals, tea and rice. Russia he stated was and still is a major supplier of energy and fertilisers to India.

On Western sanctions, Babushkin remarked that the new sanctions package announced in the European Union will not make much difference to Russia and again, it is highly unlikely that India would suspend competitive Russian oil imports.

“We are committed to sit with India to address challenges and remove them,” he said, it also disclosed that the two nations are conducting some serious negotiations of small and modular nuclear reactors.

“Russia is the partner of choice for India in India, have jointly developed BrahMos cruise missile, are working on other sophisticated equipment, including jet engines,” Babushkin said.

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Babushkin reported that President Vladimir Putin addressed twice Prime-Minister Narendra Modi regarding the events in Ukraine, and he concluded with the words, indicating that India is very important to us.

Babushkin rejoices at the visit of the Chinese foreign minister to India

On geopolitical matters, Babushkin embraced the most successful visit of the Chinese foreign ministry Wang Yi to India, terming Russia-India-China mechanism as a significant platform.

“We hope it will be resumed sooner rather than later,” he said.

He has affirmed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Vladimir Putin will have a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin but no dates have been made by when Putin will be visiting India.

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