New Delhi has said that its “economic and other interests” lie in resolving the Ukraine crisis “through dialogue and diplomacy”, ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s participation in the G-7 Summit in Hiroshima over weekend.
“Our position on [Ukraine conflict] has been spoken, reiterated a number of times at press briefings here and also outside,” Indian foreign secretary Vinay Mohan Kwatra told a press briefing in New Delhi on Thursday. “The resolution of this conflict has to be through dialogue and diplomacy.”
The Indian official noted that New Delhi’s position was conveyed to Russian President Vladimir Putin last September when he met Prime Minister Modi on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Leaders’ Summit in Samarkand.
“That is the fundamental anchor of on which our political positioning and the pursuit of our economic and other interests is based as far as this conflict is concerned,” the Indian foreign secretary remarked.
The G-7 club of rich democracies are reportedly contemplating an additional package of sanctions against Russia at this week’s meeting as well as measures against third countries evading the western sanctions.
A joint statement by the G-7 finance ministers and central bank governors after their meeting last week stated that they would counter “any attempts to evade and undermine our sanction measures”.
So far, the G-7 nations have imposed 10 rounds of sanctions against Moscow aimed at crippling its energy revenues and excluding it from the global financial architecture.
The western sanctions have largely been circumvented by India, China and many developing nations. New Delhi and Beijing have emerged as the largest importers of Russian crude since last year, in a blow to western efforts against Moscow.
New Delhi says that importing crude from Moscow is in the interest of its "energy security" and helps keep "inflation" under check amid global volatility in energy prices.
EU’s Growing Import of Refined Fuels from India
EU’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said in an interview to Financial Times this week that the EU must “take measures” if diesel or gasoline produced from Russian oil was finding its way into the European market through India.
Borrell’s remarks were made ahead of the EU-India Trade and Technology Meeting (TTM) in Brussels, which was attended by Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar.
Borrell’s remarks triggered a sharp reaction from Jaishankar, who said that Russian crude gets “substantially transformed” after entering India.
“I really don’t see the basis for your question. Because my understanding of the Council’s regulation is that if Russian crude is substantially transformed in a third country, then it is not treated as Russian anymore. I would urge you to look at Council Resolution 833/2014,” Jaishankar told FT during press remarks at the conclusion of India-EU TTC.