Jaishankar calls out West's double standards on Russian energy purchases

India's External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that the US itself had encouraged India to stabilise the world energy market by continuing to buy crude oil from Russia

External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar on Thursday questioned the West's criticism of India’s energy trade with Russia, pointing to what he termed contradictions in their own purchases.

 

“We are not the biggest purchasers of Russian oil, that is China. We are not the biggest purchasers of LNG, that is the European Union. We are not the country which has the biggest trade surge with Russia after 2022; I think there are some countries to the South,” Jaishankar said, responding to a question after his joint presser with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow.

 

He added that the United States (US) itself had encouraged India to stabilise the world energy market by continuing to buy oil from Russia. “Incidentally, we also buy oil from the US, and that amount has increased. So honestly, we are very perplexed at the logic of the argument that you (the media) had referred to,” the minister said.

 

 

Why India is calling out Western double standards

 

US President Donald Trump last month imposed 50 per cent tariffs on Indian imports, including a 25 per cent additional tariff as penalty for importing Russian crude oil, claiming the energy purchases helped Russia finance its conflict with Ukraine.

 

The addition 25 per cent duty is set to be effective from August 27.

 

India's consistent stand on Russian exports

 

This is not the first time India has called out the West's criticism of its purchases of Russian energy. Soon after the additional tariffs were announced, India called the move “extremely unfortunate”, adding that it would take all necessary steps to safeguard the country’s national interests.

 

On August 4, India also issued a sharp response to the US' threat of imposing higher tariffs for its Russian oil imports calling it “unjustified and unreasonable". The ministry of external affairs (MEA) stressed that India’s energy ties with Russia are driven by national "necessity" and are far smaller in scale compared to trade between Russia and the West.

 

The MEA pointed out that countries criticising India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia

 

“It is revealing that the very nations criticising India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia. Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion," the MEA statement added.

 

“European imports of LNG in 2024 reached a record 16.5 million tonnes, surpassing the previous high of 15.21 million tonnes in 2022...The US continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilisers as well as chemicals,” the ministry said.

 

India currently imports nearly a third of its crude oil from Russia and is the second-largest buyer of Russian crude after China. Moreover, according to a Bloomberg report, both nations are looking to increase their annual trade by about 50 per cent over the next five years to reach $100 billion, a top envoy said. However, China has so far evaded implementation of even reciprocal tariffs, with President Trump giving it extensions despite its purchases of Russian crude.