At the briefing, a familiar inquiry emerged. Journalists requested clarification on Russian oil imports. Washington asserts that India has reduced its imports of Russian oil. Indian officials did not provide an explicit rejection. The Ministry of External Affairs reiterated its position that energy security is India’s top priority. The U.S. framed the decrease as a better strategic alignment between the two countries. The White House fact sheet continues to support that assertion.
However, the joint statement contained an omission pertaining to Russian oil. This omission has resulted in additional political controversy within India. Opposition members have asked the government questions in the Parliament. Diplomatic language will now dictate any exchange between the two nations.
Officials have focused on developing a framework rather than establishing a commitment to anything specific regarding Russian oil. This lack of clarity will allow both countries to remain diplomatically linked. The question of how India will continue to develop its energy policies remains unanswered.
What the US says about India, Russian oil imports
On public record, a senior-level U.S. government official made publicly available statements affirming the above-outlined assertions. According to Kapur, India has decreased their amount of oil imported from Russia and has sought alternatives to Russian energy resources as well, as the United States requested. Kapur also commented on possible substitutes for imported reserves (from Russia) with the United States’ sourced fuel.
The White House has referenced these statements during their announcements regarding tariffs and has placed conditions upon the removal of tariffs as to whether or not India is going to continue importing fuel from Russia. Additionally, the two sides made significant agreements on items pertaining to trade, but included references to the shipment of goods from Russia in their fact sheet. While no definite answer was provided by the Government of India in response to the language in question, there was a general expression of restraint exhibited by the U.S. – India official relationship.
India reiterates energy security doctrine
Randhir Jaiswal made India’s point clearly. The Government of India has made it clear through many statements that the security of energy for 1.4 billion people is the highest priority for India, he said.
He stressed diversification of supply and market conditions. At the core of our strategy is the need to diversify the sources of energy supply according to the conditions of the market and the changing dynamics of international relations. Therefore, our actions in the past and our actions in the future will also reflect this thought, he said.
Instead of answering directly with a yes or no, the minister and officials responsible for energy and commerce redirected the questions back to the Russian side. Dmitry Peskov said India has the freedom to purchase.”India has always purchased these products from other countries, and we see no new evidence of that,” Peskov said. Currently, India is pursuing a policy of ambiguity regarding the purchase of oil.
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