‘Cannot switch off economy’: Indian envoy hits back at West’s pressure on oil imports from Russia

“Don’t you think that that seems a little odd?” Doraiswami said.

‘Energy relationship’

When questioned about India’s close ties with Russia and President Vladimir Putin, he said that New Delhi’s relationship with Moscow is built on various metrics.

“One of these is our long-standing security relationship that goes back to an era in which some of our Western partners wouldn’t sell us weapons but would sell them to countries in our neighbourhood that use them only to attack us,” the Indian envoy said.

He further termed New Delhi’s ties with Moscow an “energy relationship”, which he said was the outcome of “everybody else buying energy from sources that we used to buy from earlier”.

“So we’ve been displaced out of the energy market largely, and the costs have gone up. We are the third-largest consumer of energy in the world. We import over 80% of our product. What would you have us do? Switch off our economy,” Doraiswami said.

“We also see around us relationships that other countries maintain for their own convenience with countries that are a source of difficulty for us. Do we ask you to come up with a little test of loyalty?” he said.

Affirming India’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the Indian envoy said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly asserted that this was not an era of war and that New Delhi is “very keen” for the conflict to stop.

“He’s made that point repeatedly, including with the president of Russia and with the president of Ukraine (Volodymyr Zelensky),” he said.

“We are very keen for this terrible conflict to stop, as we are keen for conflicts across the world to stop,” Mr Doraiswami added.

India traditionally relied on the Middle East for its oil supplies. However, following Western sanctions against Moscow due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the country began offering oil at discounted prices to attract new buyers.