India buys oil from Russia and tenses the United States
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting in Vladivostok in 2019. (File image).
POOL/AFP
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India turns to Russia to buy oil and makes the United States cringe.
Following the sanctions of the Western bloc, Moscow is struggling to find takers and therefore does not hesitate to sell off its resources.
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With our correspondent in New Delhi
,
Côme Bastin
Since the start of this March, India has purchased some 360,000 barrels of oil from Russia, nearly four times more than in the same period in 2021. This week, state-owned Indian Oil Corporation and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation reserved a total of 5 million barrels of crude from Russia.
At an unbeatable price: around $25 a barrel.
Rising prices at the pump have been causing a lot of discontent among the Indian population for months.
But for Lydia Powell, energy expert with the Observer Research Foundation in New Delhi, this purchase must be seen as a political gesture as much as an economic opportunity.
“
The price of a barrel has a huge impact on India's trade balance.
But you should know that over the past twenty years, India has mainly supplied itself with oil from countries in the Middle East.
Many of our refineries are not suitable for Russian oil.
It is therefore also a gesture towards Moscow, because India is dependent on Russia to supply itself with armaments
.
»
Washington Warning
India abstained at the UN
on all resolutions condemning the Russian invasion and does not participate in the sanctions put in place by the Western bloc.
It defends its right to trade with Russia since Europe buys gas from it.
For Jen Psaki, press secretary at the White House, this purchase of oil will not violate American sanctions.
Washington, however, warns New Delhi that history will remember which side it chooses to support in this war.
►Also read:
War in Ukraine: Zelensky addresses Modi to obtain India's support before the UN
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India
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