US warns India about Russian oil

President Biden had a “constructive and candid” dialogue with Prime Minister Modi as Washington sought increased support from New Delhi to increase economic pressure on Moscow.

The Biden administration has made it clear that it does not want to see India step up its imports of Russian energy products, the White House added, without disclosing whether New Delhi has made any commitments on energy imports. or not.

According to the radio Al JazeeraNew Delhi has bought at least 13 million barrels of discounted crude from Moscow since the Kremlin launched its military campaign against Ukraine in late February.

Also on April 11, the “US-India 2+2” online dialogues took place, with the participation of Foreign Minister Antony Blinken, Defense Minister Lloyd Austin, Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Chief of Defense Rajnath Singh.

The administration of US President Joe Biden emphasized that increasing imports of Russian oil is not in India’s interest. Photo: Reuters

The event comes as New Delhi tries to balance its relations with Moscow and the West. The West has imposed a series of sanctions against Russia, and urged countries to turn away from its energy products to increase pressure on the Kremlin.

Speaking on April 11 ahead of an online meeting with President Biden, Prime Minister Modi said he had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to talk directly with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy to resolve the conflict.

Meanwhile, at a press conference on the same day, Minister Jaishankar stressed when asked about Russian energy imports that all attention should be on Europe, not India.

“Our total transaction in a month is probably not as good as Europe’s one-way transaction,” said Mr. Jaishankar.

Stop granting trade credit

According to Reuters On April 11, many foreign banks – including HDFC Bank of India, stopped providing commercial credit for oil imports from Nayara Energy refinery.

Nayara Energy has not been targeted by the West but Rosneft – the Russian energy group that owns 49% of the Indian refinery – has been sanctioned.

A photo of the logo of Russian energy corporation Rosneft in Nefteyugansk city – Russia. Photo: Reuters