External Affairs Minister Jaishankar met with British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss and his exchanges were a little away from cordial on the topic of sanctions levied on Russia.
Jaishankar held his stance for looking out for India for great deals for its energy demand with the onset of market volatility. He pointed the fact out that despite the Russian-Ukraine crisis Europe has been importing energy from Russia. Europe has purchased more oil when compared to its buying capacity before the war stated Jaishankar.
Liz Truss spoke a lot about the Russian aggression while Jaishankar did not mention Russia anywhere in his exchanges with her in his 45-minute discussion at the very 1st India-UK strategic futures forum organized collectively by the Indian Council of World Affairs and Policy Exchange. A bilateral meeting followed.
Liz Truss responded diplomatically, “We have in detail shared the UK’s approach and we will end our dependence on Russian energy imports by the end of this year. India is an independent nation and I for one will not ask India what to and what not to do. We have signed up with Budapest Memorandum, I represent the UK government and we will take all possible actions in our power to extend our support to Ukraine.”
To this Jaishankar responded by highlighting that Europe in March had bought a 15% surplus of ONG from Russia when compared to its February imports. He said, “Allow me to list out the major buyers from Russia. Topping the list would be European countries, India majorly imports its energy supplies from the Middle East about 8 % from the US long back and when it comes to Russia a percent less.”
Jaishankar further added, “That India’s imports clearly depend on economic conditions, whenever the oil prices rise, I believe any country would go out looking for what best suits their pocket and demands. 3 months from now if we look at the list of major importers of Russian energy I believe the list won’t be any different from what it is now. And for sure India will not be in Russia’s top 10 list.”
