External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar hit out at the hypocrisy of European nations during his visit to Finland on Thursday after a journalist accused India of being “too sympathetic” to Russia and “too willing to buy oil from Russia”.
While participating in a panel discussion on “Emerging Powers and the New Geopolitical Competition” at the Kultaranta Talks, Jaishankar tackled the attack by highlighting Europe’s moral ambiguity and blamed them for selling weapons to countries that attack India. He said that India has never done anything to cause harm to Europe.
“No European country has been attacked with Indian weapons. I wish I could say that for Europe weapons vis-à-vis India,” he said.
After he was asked to elaborate on his point, he reiterated, “Europe sells weapons, which are used to attack India. Not just now but for many years. We Indians have never done anything to endanger Europe. I think that’s a reasonable point.”
India Buys Russian Oil To Stabilise Oil Market
He also clarified that India bought Russian oil because the United States specifically asked India to buy Russian oil to stabilise the oil market.
“I buy oil based on cost and availability,” he said.
Jaishanker pointed out that “At that point of time, much of the oil available in the market was from Russia because Europeans were essentially buying up the Middle East oil, which was our traditional supplier.”
Read | ‘Do It When Suits Them, Don’t When It Doesn’t’: S Jaishankar On US Tariffs
“Circumstances pushed us in a certain direction,” the diplomat added.
He then hit at the contradictory policy of the United States, which first put tariffs on India and then lifted the sanctions.
“Right now, if you see, after having first put tariffs on us for buying Russian oil, the US then again lifted its sanctions… Let’s not pretend there’s some great principle involved here. I don’t think making this about sanctimony is really warranted,” he said.
India has consistently defended its imports of Russian oil, stating that its global energy imports are guided by national interest, citizen welfare and domestic energy security priorities, and called for dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the Ukraine conflict.
