A day after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar defended India’s decision to buy oil from Russia during the ongoing Ukraine conflict, the Ukraine Foreign Minister on Tuesday said it is “morally inappropriate.”
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also said, “The opportunity for India to buy Russian oil at a cheap price comes from the fact that Ukrainians are suffering from Russian aggression and dying every day.’’
Making this assertion in an interview to a private television channel, the Ukrainian Minister said, “If you benefit because of our suffering, it would be good to see more of your help addressed to us.”
Jaishankar on Monday said India’s decision to buy oil from Russia was largely driven by market forces adding the European Union (EU) has bought more oil from Russia than India during the last few months, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said.
Jaishankar’s assertion came during his talks with visiting German counterpart Annalena Baerbock. “The European Unions from February to November have imported more fossil fuel from Russia than the next 10 countries combined. The oil import in the European Union is six times what India has imported, gas is infinite times because we don’t import it,” he said.
Addressing a joint Press meet with the German Minister after talks, Jaishankar also said, “I would urge you to look at these figures. There is a website called ‘Russia Fossil Fuel Tracker’ it would give you country-by-country data of who is really importing what and I suspect that might be very very helpful.”
Jaishankar also said there is a finite amount of energy resources and Europe cannot make choices to prioritise its energy needs while asking India to do something else.
On economic ties, he said India’s trade with Russia is at a very small level- $12-13 billion, in comparison to European countries. “We have also given Russians a set of products... I don’t think people should read more into it other than the legitimate expectations of any trading country to increase its trade,” he said.
Responding to this assertion by Jaishankar, Kuleba said ‘’It is not enough to point fingers at the European Union and say, Oh, they are doing the same thing.”
According to Kuleba, India’s decision to import cheap Russian oil needs to be seen through the prism of human suffering in Ukraine.
The Ukrainian Foreign Minister also said India, specifically Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has a key role to play in helping to end the war.
‘’India is a very important player in the global arena and the Prime Minister of India, with his voice, can make a change.’’ At the same time, New Delhi, he believes, needs to be direct in referring to the situation in Ukraine.
‘’We are waiting for the moment when Indian foreign policy will call spade a spade, and name the conflict - not ‘war in Ukraine’, but what it is, a ‘Russian aggression against Ukraine’,” he said.
Asked if New Delhi’s intervention could realistically make a difference in the thinking of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kuleba said it was important to make a concerted effort. ‘’If you don’t try, nothing can change,’’ he said.
‘’We have seen some encouraging messages coming from your Prime Minister - when he said this is not the time for war. We hope that (there) is more active, even if it is quiet, behind-the-scenes diplomacy (that) will take place in the coming weeks. It’s worth trying (in) any way to end the war,” he said.
