'Shut the economy?': Indian envoy's hard-hitting reply to West over oil imports from Russia
PTC News Desk: Amid mounting pressure from Western countries to snap ties with Russia over its long-standing conflict with Ukraine, Indian envoy to the UK has maintained that New Delhi cannot shut its economy over geopolitical concerns.
In an interview, Vikram Doraiswami said India, the world's third-largest oil importer and consumer, imports 80% of its energy needs.
"We import over 80% of our (energy) needs. What would you want us to do? Switch off our economy?" he said while responding to a question on Western criticism of India's ties with Russia.
"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," he said.
Calling out what he termed as double standards, Doraiswami criticized several European countries for continuing to import rare earth elements and energy products from nations they object to India engaging with.
He also said that India has an "energy relationship" with Russia, which is the result 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," Mr 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.
His remarks echoed the stance taken by External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, who has repeatedly defended India's oil trade with Russia on international platforms.
Last year, Jaishankar had sharply criticized Europe's "selective approach," questioning why it hadn't cut its own economic ties with Russia. He asserted that India wouldn't bear higher oil costs just to satisfy European expectations.
- PTC NEWS
