News Analysis India

Tag: Oil import

  • India amidst the Russia-Ukraine conflict, a year later 

    Express News Service

    NEW DELHI: It has been a year since the conflict broke out in Ukraine which triggered not just a humanitarian crisis but also led to a shortage of food and fuel and divided the world between Ukraine and Russia.

    India has been in the news since the outbreak of the conflict – not just for maintaining its own stand on the conflict, but for balancing its position by sending humanitarian aid to Ukraine and increasing oil imports from Russia. India also outlined its take on the conflict and didn’t speak against Russia. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s phrase ‘this is no era for war’ became a part of the joint statement of the G20 Summit held in Bali in 2022.

    Let’s look back at the year it has been since February 24th, 2022. When the conflict broke out, India had the humungous task of evacuating 22,000 Indian students who were studying across Universities in Ukraine. Ministers and diplomats were aligned and sent for the evacuation process from bordering states of Ukraine – Poland, Hungary.

    All but one student – who got hit by shrapnel and died – returned to India.

    As Russia began to get isolated by the world, India began to increase its oil imports from Russia as crude was available at a discount. From a mere 2 per of its total imports, India today imports close to 30 per cent of its crude requirement from them. Despite the sanctions imposed on Russia and the cap on the price of crude that was imposed by G7.

    India also extended humanitarian aid to Ukraine thereby maintaining a balance.India also managed to strike a deal with many nations including Russia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, UAE and a few nations in Africa to trade in local currencies.

    Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, made repeated calls to Russian President, Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelensky to resolve the conflict through dialogue and discussion.In the UN too India abstained from all votes against Russia. This move didn’t go down well with the US and Europe.

    Reacting to the posturing the West had against Ukraine and India’s stand, External Affairs Minister, Dr S Jaishankar, during the Globesec conference in Bratislava (5th June, 2022)  said, “somewhere Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe’s problems are the world’s problems but the world’s problems are not Europe’s problems.’’

    Dr Jaishankar said that the world was oblivious to the challenges India faced in the neighbourhood and expected India to challenge its long-term ally Russia in the wake of the conflict.

    Meanwhile, the US began to reaffirm that India was a strategic partner and they were partners in the Indo-Pacific. The posturing was also to strengthen their position against China – with who the US has been at loggerheads over Taiwan.

    The leaders of the West, despite vehemently opposing Russia, came to terms with India’s stand on Russia.

    Prime Minister Modi’s comment ‘that this is no era for war’ was included in the joint statement of the Bali Summit in 2022.

    India is hosting the G20 Presidency this year and within a week’s time will host the Foreign Ministers meet. Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken are both expected to attend the meeting. 

    With the way India has handled things in the past year, it is almost certain that they will continue to do the balancing act even on home turf.

    NEW DELHI: It has been a year since the conflict broke out in Ukraine which triggered not just a humanitarian crisis but also led to a shortage of food and fuel and divided the world between Ukraine and Russia.

    India has been in the news since the outbreak of the conflict – not just for maintaining its own stand on the conflict, but for balancing its position by sending humanitarian aid to Ukraine and increasing oil imports from Russia. India also outlined its take on the conflict and didn’t speak against Russia. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s phrase ‘this is no era for war’ became a part of the joint statement of the G20 Summit held in Bali in 2022.

    Let’s look back at the year it has been since February 24th, 2022. When the conflict broke out, India had the humungous task of evacuating 22,000 Indian students who were studying across Universities in Ukraine. Ministers and diplomats were aligned and sent for the evacuation process from bordering states of Ukraine – Poland, Hungary.

    All but one student – who got hit by shrapnel and died – returned to India.

    As Russia began to get isolated by the world, India began to increase its oil imports from Russia as crude was available at a discount. From a mere 2 per of its total imports, India today imports close to 30 per cent of its crude requirement from them. Despite the sanctions imposed on Russia and the cap on the price of crude that was imposed by G7.

    India also extended humanitarian aid to Ukraine thereby maintaining a balance.
    India also managed to strike a deal with many nations including Russia, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, UAE and a few nations in Africa to trade in local currencies.

    Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, made repeated calls to Russian President, Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Vlodomyr Zelensky to resolve the conflict through dialogue and discussion.
    In the UN too India abstained from all votes against Russia. This move didn’t go down well with the US and Europe.

    Reacting to the posturing the West had against Ukraine and India’s stand, External Affairs Minister, Dr S Jaishankar, during the Globesec conference in Bratislava (5th June, 2022)  said, “somewhere Europe has to grow out of the mindset that Europe’s problems are the world’s problems but the world’s problems are not Europe’s problems.’’

    Dr Jaishankar said that the world was oblivious to the challenges India faced in the neighbourhood and expected India to challenge its long-term ally Russia in the wake of the conflict.

    Meanwhile, the US began to reaffirm that India was a strategic partner and they were partners in the Indo-Pacific. The posturing was also to strengthen their position against China – with who the US has been at loggerheads over Taiwan.

    The leaders of the West, despite vehemently opposing Russia, came to terms with India’s stand on Russia.

    Prime Minister Modi’s comment ‘that this is no era for war’ was included in the joint statement of the Bali Summit in 2022.

    India is hosting the G20 Presidency this year and within a week’s time will host the Foreign Ministers meet. Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken are both expected to attend the meeting. 

    With the way India has handled things in the past year, it is almost certain that they will continue to do the balancing act even on home turf.

  • India can play bridging role in divides caused by conflicts such as Ukraine: Jaishankar

    By PTI

    ABU DHABI: India can play a bridging role in an increasingly divided world around conflicts such as the war in Ukraine, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday.

    At the India Global Forum (IGF) UAE summit in Abu Dhabi, the minister highlighted two big divides in the world today, largely impacted by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and analysed the role countries like India and the UAE can play.

    “One is the East-West divide centring around Ukraine and the other is a north-south divide centring around development,” said Jaishankar.

    “Ukraine is also having an impact on development. I do believe a country like India can play that bridging role, not alone but with other countries like UAE. There is the need today to bridge,” he said.

    Dr Anwar Mohammed Gargash, the Diplomatic Adviser to the UAE President, who was in conversation with Jaishankar during the summit session, called for a “quick end to the conflict in Ukraine.”

    “It will not end except politically. It is in our interest to ensure a political process that ends this conflict,” he said.

    Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24. The Russian action has been widely condemned by the US-led West. India has repeatedly called on Russia and Ukraine to return to the path of diplomacy and dialogue and end their ongoing conflict.ALSO READ | Sensible to get best deal in interest of Indians: Jaishankar on Russian oil

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to the presidents of Russia and Ukraine on multiple occasions and urged for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a return to the path of diplomacy and dialogue for the resolution of the conflict.

    In his bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Uzbekistan on September 16, Modi said “today’s era is not of war” and nudged him to end the conflict.

    India has not yet criticised the Russian attack on Ukraine and has been maintaining that the crisis should be resolved through dialogue.

    Earlier, Jaishankar opened the UAE summit, organised by UK-headquartered India Global Forum, with a keynote address around the geopolitical developments in the region and the role being played by India and the UAE as “partners for global impact.”

    On UAE-India bilateral relations, the minister noted that the historic ties have within it “centuries of comfort” with an often “intuitive” element.

    He pointed to the UAE as India’s third-largest trade partner and second-largest export destination and an important partner as the country with more Indian citizens than anywhere else abroad.

    ALSO READ | Ukraine slams India for buying Russian oil, calls it ‘morally inappropriate’

    ABU DHABI: India can play a bridging role in an increasingly divided world around conflicts such as the war in Ukraine, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Monday.

    At the India Global Forum (IGF) UAE summit in Abu Dhabi, the minister highlighted two big divides in the world today, largely impacted by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and analysed the role countries like India and the UAE can play.

    “One is the East-West divide centring around Ukraine and the other is a north-south divide centring around development,” said Jaishankar.

    “Ukraine is also having an impact on development. I do believe a country like India can play that bridging role, not alone but with other countries like UAE. There is the need today to bridge,” he said.

    Dr Anwar Mohammed Gargash, the Diplomatic Adviser to the UAE President, who was in conversation with Jaishankar during the summit session, called for a “quick end to the conflict in Ukraine.”

    “It will not end except politically. It is in our interest to ensure a political process that ends this conflict,” he said.

    Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine on February 24. The Russian action has been widely condemned by the US-led West. India has repeatedly called on Russia and Ukraine to return to the path of diplomacy and dialogue and end their ongoing conflict.ALSO READ | Sensible to get best deal in interest of Indians: Jaishankar on Russian oil

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken to the presidents of Russia and Ukraine on multiple occasions and urged for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a return to the path of diplomacy and dialogue for the resolution of the conflict.

    In his bilateral meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Uzbekistan on September 16, Modi said “today’s era is not of war” and nudged him to end the conflict.

    India has not yet criticised the Russian attack on Ukraine and has been maintaining that the crisis should be resolved through dialogue.

    Earlier, Jaishankar opened the UAE summit, organised by UK-headquartered India Global Forum, with a keynote address around the geopolitical developments in the region and the role being played by India and the UAE as “partners for global impact.”

    On UAE-India bilateral relations, the minister noted that the historic ties have within it “centuries of comfort” with an often “intuitive” element.

    He pointed to the UAE as India’s third-largest trade partner and second-largest export destination and an important partner as the country with more Indian citizens than anywhere else abroad.

    ALSO READ | Ukraine slams India for buying Russian oil, calls it ‘morally inappropriate’

  • Top US official on India trip over oil import from Russia

    By Express News Service

    NEW DELHI:  The US has commenced its efforts to try to wean India off its oil imports from Russia. Elizabeth Rosenberg, Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes at the US Department of Treasury, will travel to Delhi and Mumbai following President Biden’s call for all-encompassing sanctions on Russia. 

    “Assistant Secretary Rosenberg is travelling to New Delhi and Mumbai as a part of a continued Treasury effort to engage with partners and allies around the implementation and enforcement of the unprecedented multilateral sanctions and export controls on Russia for its war on Ukraine,’’ a US Embassy spokesperson told this newspaper.

    India imports less than 1 per cent of its crude from Russia, contrary to some countries in the European Union, which have upped imports. “Amid the continuing conflict in Ukraine, India is trying to secure its own interests as all European nations are,’’ said Union Minister of Commerce, Piyush Goyal at Davos recently.

    EU countries are importing larger quantities of petroleum products from Russia. Italy, for instance, has increased its imports from Russia, which has exported 450,000 barrels of crude per day to Italy this month — more than four times of what they imported in February and the highest ever since 2013. Italy is slated to overtake the Netherlands as the EU’s largest import hub for seaborne Russian crude.

    “In the current situation, when inflation is at an all-time high, causing stress to people all over the world, EU and European countries continue to buy larger quantities than India ever thought of buying,’’ Goyal added. According to sources, Secretary Rosenberg is expected to meet government officials and also members of the petroleum industry in the public and private sector.