'What would you have us do? Switch off our economy?': An Indian diplomat tackles question on Russian oil
India’s High Commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, has defended New Delhi’s continued oil imports from Russia, suggesting India cannot be expected to shut down its economy over geopolitical concerns.
Responding to questions on Western criticism during an interview with Times Radio, Doraiswami said India is the third-largest consumer of energy in the world and imports over 80% of its needs. “We are the third largest consumer of energy in the world. We import over 80% of our needs. What would you have us do? Switch off our economy?” he asked, while explaining that the current energy relationship with Russia is shaped by rising costs and supply displacement caused by other countries’ procurement choices.
“We also see relationships that other countries maintain for their own convenience with countries that are a source of difficulty for us. Do we ask you to come up with a litmus test of loyalty?” the Indian diplomat fired back.
Doraiswami’s remarks come amid renewed Western scrutiny of India’s energy links with Moscow, especially after the European Union named India’s Vadinar refinery — partly owned by Russia’s Rosneft — in its latest sanctions package aimed at curbing revenues from Russia’s energy exports. The bloc’s 18th round of sanctions also targets 105 additional ships and imposes further curbs on refined oil trade.
Asked whether India’s growing closeness with Russia, especially President Vladimir Putin, was a matter of concern, Doraiswami said India’s relationship with Russia was driven by long-term strategic and economic considerations. “One of these is our long-standing security relationship that goes back to an era in which some of our Western partners wouldn’t sell us weapons but would sell them to countries in our neighbourhood that use them only to attack us,” he said.
He also cited India’s displacement from traditional energy markets due to global competition and pricing shifts. “We have an energy relationship today, which is the result of everybody else buying energy from sources that we used to earlier buy from. So we’ve been displaced out of the energy market largely, and the costs have gone up,” he said.
Responding to concerns that India’s energy purchases may undermine sanctions, Doraiswami highlighted Europe’s own energy links with Russia and rare earth imports. “We’re the fourth largest refiner of energy in the world – and a number of countries in Europe buy refined oil from us. And also many of our European partners are continuing to buy rare earth and other energy products – not oil perhaps – from the same countries that they’re refusing to let us buy from. You wouldn’t think that that seems a little odd?”
On whether India’s participation in a so-called “Russia-India-China pact” was appropriate, Doraiswami clarified that no such agreement exists. “There isn’t any such thing as a Russia-India-China proposal. There was a trilateral meeting format, the RIC format. It wasn’t a pact of any sort… it hasn’t happened in a long time,” he said. “Beyond that, there isn’t a framework in which we’re looking at anything more than conversation around these pieces.”
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