In response to EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell’s call for measures to combat the sale of Indian refined products derived from Russian crude oil, the External Affairs Ministry, on Tuesday (Local Time), urged him to review EU Council regulations. Jaishankar pointed out that Russian crude oil is significantly altered in the third country, and is no longer considered Russian. “I strongly urge you to review Council Regulation 833/ 2014,” Jaishankar said.
The comments come after the EU’s top diplomat said the EU should clamp down on India’s “normal” trade in Russian oil, including diesel, as Western countries push to rein in Moscow’s energy industry.
“India’s buying Russian oil is normal,” EU Foreign Policy chief Borrell told the Financial Times in an interview. “What we want is for the EU to take action on refined products from India made from Russian crude.”
Borrell met with Jaitley at a trade technology conference in Brussels, but did not attend the subsequent press conference.
Meet the Goa Bureaucrats: From Pakistan’s Minister for Power, Energy and Coal, to China’s Minister for Finance, Jaitley welcomed Jaitley to India.
Jaishankar in Brussels
Margrethe Vestager, the EU Executive Vice President for Competition, declared that the legal basis for the sanctions was clear and that the EU would approach the discussion between India and the EU as “friends” with an open hand and, of course, without pointing fingers. In addition to Vestager, the meeting was attended by Jaishankar (Minister of Economic Affairs and Social Co-operation) and Commerce Minister Pyush Goyal, as well as Union Minister of State (E-Commerce, Skills, Electronics and Technology) Rajeev Chandrakhar. Jaishankar arrived in Brussels on Monday to complete his three-nation tour, which began in Bangladesh, Sweden, and Belgium. During the meeting, Jaishankar held talks with Secretary General Zhang Ming of the SCO.
Jaishankar defends India again
Jaishankar had previously defended India’s trade with Russia, but also accused the West of pressuring New Delhi to cut trade with Russia because of its military actions in Ukraine. He asked how Europe could choose to focus on its own energy needs while asking India to do something different. “We have a very small trade with Russia – about 12-13 billion dollars – compared to European countries, and we have given the Russians a range of products,” he said at a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in December. “I don’t think that people should read too much into it other than what any trading country would expect to do to increase its trade with Russia.”
“I would urge you to look at these figures. There is a website called ‘Russia Fossil Fuel Tracker’ that would give you country-by-country data of who is really importing what and I suspect that might be very very helpful,” he added.
