The Western world has been pressuring India to stop buying crude oil from Russia following Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. But Delhi did not give in to the pressure. Asked about this at a security conference in Munich last week, Jaishankar said, “I don’t think it causes any inconvenience to others.” He also told the German daily that at the moment India is not looking at any option to buy crude oil from Russia.Russia has been India’s main oil supplier since before the war. Referring to that, Jaishankar said,”After the war in Ukraine, Europe began to depend on West Asia for buying the majority of its oil. West Asia gave preference to Europe in many cases because it offered higher prices. What would we do?Either because you (Europe) are paying higher prices, we would also have to buy fuel at higher prices. Or we wouldn’t have fuel at all.
As a result (by buying oil from Russia), in a sense, we have put the energy market in a trap.Jaishankar said, “Every relationship is built on the basis of past experience. Looking at the history of post-independence India, it will be seen that Russia has never harmed our interests. Russia’s relations with Europe, America or Japan have had ups and downs. But Russia’s relationship with us has always been stable and friendly. The relationship has endured.
Our mutual relationship is built on this experience. For others it may be different.”Giving an example in this context, the foreign minister said that India’s relationship with China is very complicated both militarily and politically. Asked whether India expected Europe’s support during the border conflict with China in 2020, Jaishankar said, “I don’t expect Europe to have exactly the same view on China as we do on China. Similarly, Europe needs to understand, theirs on Russia and ours.” Views cannot be the same. There will be these natural differences in relationships, it needs to be accepted.
