Indian Envoy Defends Russian Oil Imports: ‘Should We Switch Off Our Economy?’
India’s High Commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, has defended New Delhi’s continued oil imports from Russia, arguing that India cannot be expected to shut down its economy over shifting geopolitical expectations.
In an interview with Times Radio in the UK, Doraiswami pushed back against Western criticism over India’s ties with Moscow, especially amid the ongoing war in Ukraine. He noted that many European nations continue to import critical resources from countries they now expect India to avoid.
“Many of our European partners are still buying rare earths and other energy products from the same countries they don’t want us to buy from,” Doraiswami said. “What would you have us do? Switch off our economy?”
He highlighted that India’s longstanding ties with Russia extend beyond energy to defense, rooted in a time when some Western nations refused to sell arms to India but supplied its regional rivals.
“We have a relationship that is based on a number of metrics. One of these is our long-standing security relationship, which dates back to an era when some Western partners wouldn’t sell us weapons but sold them to countries in our neighborhood — countries that used them against us,” he said.
Doraiswami further explained that the surge in India’s oil imports from Russia was shaped by market dynamics and supply constraints caused by Western nations shifting their own procurement.
“We’ve been displaced from our earlier energy sources, and prices have gone up. We’re the third-largest consumer of energy globally, and we import over 80% of our requirements. So our energy relationship with Russia is a result of supply chain changes, not strategic alignment,” he clarified.
Taking a swipe at perceived double standards, Doraiswami added: “Other countries maintain convenient relationships with nations that pose challenges to us. Do we ask you to take a loyalty test?”
India imported around 1.75 million barrels per day of Russian oil in the first half of 2025, a slight increase from the previous year. These purchases surged after Western sanctions on Moscow post its 2022 invasion of Ukraine led to deep discounts on Russian crude.
Earlier this month, US President Donald Trump threatened sanctions on countries continuing to buy Russian exports unless Moscow agrees to a peace deal within 50 days — a move that could put further pressure on India and other major importers.
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