US President Joe Biden on Monday said that India’s response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been “shaky” which has made it an exception among all the allies of Washington.
“(There has been) a united front throughout NATO and in the Pacific… The Quad is, with the possible exception of India being somewhat shaky on some of this, but Japan has been dealing extremely strongly (and) so has Australia,” President Biden said at a meeting of US business leaders.
The US and its allies have responded swiftly and strongly to the Russian invasion of Ukraine via crippling economic sanctions on Moscow as well as cutting Russia off of international trade.
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Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Hardeep Singh Puri on Monday informed the Parliament that India imported less than 1 percent crude oil from Russia. While, it imported 7.3 percent of its energy requirements from the US.
It was recently reported that the Russian oil exports to India have quadrupled in March as New Delhi bought multiple oil containers which were initially Europe-bound.
Russia has till now exported 360000 barrels of oil per day to India this month which is four times the average of 2021.
Meanwhile, Australian ambassador to India Barry O’Farrell on Sunday said that the QUAD countries have accepted India’s stance on the Russian Ukraine war.
India has recently purchased Russian crude oil at discount prices, a move which has come under severe criticism from the western press.
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India’s abstention at the UN on the Russian-Ukrainian crisis is seen as an extension of the “no-condemnation” policy which was initiated by the country’s first PM Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru as well as its commitment to dialogue and engagement between warring parties.
Post the invasion, the crude price per barrel has crossed USD 100 and has hit the economic recoveries of all the countries across the world. India is keen on cutting the energy bill and is in conversation with Russia to supply crude at discount prices.
“Discussions are currently underway. There are several issues to be gone into like how much oil is available,” Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri told the Parliament last week.
