India turned en masse to Russian oil in 2022, when the U.S. and the EU imposed sanctions on Moscow due to the invasion of Ukraine. Four years later, India is a major buyer of Russia’s crude and Russia is India’s single-largest oil supplier. “At that time, the US specifically asked India to buy Russian oil to stabilize the oil market,” Jaishankar was quoted as saying at an event in Finland, referring to the situation on the market in 2022. India buys oil based on price and availability, the foreign minister said in response to reporters’ remarks that India is “too sympathetic to Russia” and “too willing to buy oil from Russia”. “Circumstances pushed us in a certain direction,” NDTV World quoted Jaishankar as saying. The U.S. lifted sanctions on Russian oil this year after the Iran war pushed oil prices well above $100 per barrel in April, after having slapped tariffs on India for buying Russian crude. “Let’s not pretend there’s some great principle involved here. I don’t think making this about sanctimony is really warranted,” the Indian minister said. In the current supply crisis, Indian refiners have secured crude supply at least through August as they boost purchases from the United Arab [...]
