India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar defended Indian oil purchases from Russia amid the Ukraine war as criticism mounted that India too was supporting Russia in the war against Ukraine.
Currently, Sri Lanka depends heavily on the Indian credit line to import fuel and other essential items, as the country is also engaged in discussions to buy Russian oil directly, to meet the local demand.
The Indian Minister was speaking during an interview at the Globsec 2022 Forum at the Slovak capital of Bratislava where he was on an official visit.
“Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe’s problems are the world’s problems but the world’s problems are not Europe’s problems,” he said, adding that the European view seemed to be that of “if it is you, it’s yours (crisis). If it is me, it’s ours.”
Asked about India buying nine times the amount of Russian oil since last year, Dr Jaishankar said the Indian oil imports from Russia were from a “very low base”, meaning that India imported much less previously. He also referred to how fresh European sanctions on Russian energy had been levied in such a way that the population of Europe would not be exposed to shocks.
Dr Jaishankar said: “If you (Europe) can be considerate of yourself, surely you can be considerate of other people. So if Europe says we have to manage it in a way that impact on my economy is not traumatic, that freedom or choice should exist for other people as well.”
[ Sunday Times, Colombo]
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