‘Perplexed at the logic’: EAM Jaishankar in Moscow points to China as biggest buyer of Russian crude
ADVERTISEMENT
India's External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, talking about India's energy ties with Russia, has said today that it is China which is the largest buyer of Russian oil and not India.
"We are not the biggest purchasers of Russian oil, that is China. We are not the biggest purchasers of LNG, that is the European Union," Jaishankar told the press in Moscow where he is meeting his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov.
Jaishankar's high-profile Russia visit comes amidst plummeting relations with the U.S. over New Delhi's decision to keep buying crude oil from Russia. U.S President Donald Trump had recently imposed over 50% tariffs on India for this action.
In the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, U.S. had imposed strong trade and economic sanctions on Russia.
Lavrov today had hailed India-Russia ties and signalled that Moscow would be keen to deepen energy cooperation with India.
It is important to note that both India and China are two of the key buyers of Russian crude, which contributes significantly to the Russian economy reeling under Western sanctions.
January 2026
Netflix, which has been in India for a decade, has successfully struck a balance between high-class premium content and pricing that attracts a range of customers. Find out how the U.S. streaming giant evolved in India, plus an exclusive interview with CEO Ted Sarandos. Also read about the Best Investments for 2026, and how rising growth and easing inflation will come in handy for finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman as she prepares Budget 2026.
"We are not the country which has the biggest trade surge with Russia after 2022; I think there are some countries to the South. We are a country where the Americans have said for the last few years that we should do everything to stabilise the world energy market, including buying oil from Russia. Incidentally, we also buy oil from the U.S., and that amount has increased," Jaishankar said today.
After meeting Lavrov, Jaishankar also called on Russia's President, Vladimir Putin and the two met.
Lavrov today also had said that Putin would visit India by the end of this year, where he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Energy security and Indo-Russian relations are likely to be the key themes which could dominate Putin's visit.