'Every country has right to...': WH official on India buying Russian oil

The White House official John Kirby, on Wednesday, said that every sovereign country, including India, has the right to buy oil or lubricants from any country.

This remark came upon the query being asked about India buying oil from Russia could be one of the agenda of US President Joe Biden's discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, with whom the American leader will hold a bilateral meeting during his India visit.

Responding to that question, National Security Council (NSC) coordinator for strategic communications Kirby said, "We encourage, as I said, all nations to purchase oil in accordance with the price cap. We also --- from the United States' perspective, we don't believe that this is a time for business as usual with Putin and with Russia."

"Every nation has to make their own sovereign decisions. We have been nothing but clear and consistent with all of our allies and partners about where we come in on economic opportunities and trade with Russia. But every just - every sovereign nation has to make these decisions for themselves," he added.

Since India said that it would buy oil from Russia, it has become a contagious issue for the world.

Last year, External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar clearly spelt out India's position on the Ukraine conflict and the reasons behind buying oil from Russia. At several events, different countries had asked Jaishankar about the oil buying from Russia, to which the EAM said, "I prefer to do it my way and articulate it my way."

Talking to reporters during a press briefing at the Washington Foreign Press Center, Kirby talked about Russia's President Vladimir Putin and China's President Xi Jinping being absent from this week's G20 Summit in India.

He said that he didn't know about the possibility of any planning between the two leaders for being absent from the leaders' summit

"And my message to Russia is: Leave Ukraine. Stop the war," Kirby said.

At the briefing, the NSC coordinator also about the possibility of discussions between US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.

Kirby stated that he has little doubt that they will also discuss the ongoing war in Ukraine and the effect, the deleterious effect that that war is having on low- and middle-income countries, which again comes right back to the economic cooperation issue.

In general, both leaders will discuss security, economic, and diplomatic challenges throughout the Indo-Pacific will certainly be something that they discuss, Kirby added.

The G20 Leaders' Summit is scheduled to take place on September 9 and 10 in India and US President Joe Biden is slated to attend the event. He will start his visit to India on September 7.