In an interview with the German economic daily Handelsblatt, Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar defended India’s oil purchases from Russia despite Western sanctions and said that the purchases “stabilised the energy market.” The interview came as Jaishankar was in Germany to attend the 60th Munich Security Conference.
India’s Oil Purchases from Russia
The EAM highlighted that India fulfilled its energy requirements from Russia as Middle Eastern suppliers prioritised Europe when European nations shifted their supplies from Russia and paid higher prices for oil products from the Gulf Nations. “If no one had bought the crude oil from Russia and everyone had bought the crude oil from the other countries, prices on the energy market would have shot up even further,” Jaishankar remarked.
EAM @DrSJaishankar’s interview with @handelsblatt during his visit to Munich for @MunSecConf. https://t.co/wLJhVnRHMr pic.twitter.com/Sotc0jQ0nK
— Office of Dr. S. Jaishankar (@sjaishankaroffc) February 20, 2024
“Global inflation would have been much higher - and that would have been a huge political issue in lower-income countries,” he added. When told that India was undermining the effect of Western sanctions on Russia, Jaishankar said that if Europe wanted to maximise the damage inflicted on Russia, it would have stopped all economic ties with Russia.
“If Europe was so convinced and the principles were so important, why did it allow relations to end gently?” Jaishankar questioned. The comments come as a CNN report claimed that India has increased its purchases of Russian crude by over 13 times its pre-war amounts, using a shadow fleet to avoid detection and evade sanctions, thus benefitting Russia.
Russia Has Never Hurt Indian Interests
When asked whether the Indo-Russian relationship was a burden to India-Europe ties, Jaishankar said that everyone conducts a relationship based on past experiences. “If I look at the history of India post-independence, Russia has never hurt our interests,” he remarked.
The EAM further emphasised the need to accept natural differences in the Indo-European ties with regard to India’s closeness to Russia. As for the Ukraine-Russia conflict, he asserted that while India was publicly committed to bringing the conflict to an end, it does not believe that it should initiate anything in this direction on its own.
UN Reform, Changing International Order
Jaishankar reiterated India’s stance on the need to reform the UN. He mentioned that while the organisation had started with 50 members, it has almost 200 members now, but its management has not changed. “The countries blocking reform are in denial about the changes that have taken place in recent decades,” he added. During COVID-19, the international order collapsed, and a large part of the world was left out of the UN’s vaccination campaign, he underlined.
EAM @drsjaishankar spoke to two leading dailies @handelsblatt and @diezeit during his participation in the #MunichSecurityConference. pic.twitter.com/UUZGNARXSH
— Office of Dr. S. Jaishankar (@sjaishankaroffc) February 17, 2024
Additionally, the EAM highlighted that there is a need to refresh, renovate, and reform the international order, not to strengthen it. Specifically, he said that there’s a need to look at climate protection and the imbalance in global production.
India-EU Ties, FTA
Jaishankar said that India considers its ties with Europe to be one of its most important relationships. “When we talk about a multipolar world, there is no question for us that Europe is a pole and, as a pole, must be involved not only in economic but also in political and strategic issues,” he commented.
When asked about whether the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the EU and India will conclude this year, Jaishankar said he would not make a prediction as the negotiation process is complicated. He added that an FTA with the EU is complex as it also involves several non-trade issues. However, the EAM reassured that India-EU ties were developing well in several other areas.