The Government of India accused the United States on Monday and the European Union of Hypocrisy for maintaining a significant trade with Russia while “punishing” New Delhi for whose purchase, he said, was even encouraged by Washington in the past.
“It is revealing that the same nations that criticize India themselves participate in Russia trade (…) In this context, pointing to India is unjustified and unreasonable. Like any great economy, India will take all the necessary measures to safeguard their national interests and their economic security,” said a statement from the Indian Foreign Ministry on Monday.
To support his accusation, New Delhi presented the data of his critics. According to the statement, the European Union held a bilateral trade of 67.5 billion euros in goods with Moscow and imported a record of 16.5 million tons of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG).
“As for the United States,” continues the text, “continues to import from Russia Hexafluoruro de Uranium for its nuclear industry, paladium for its electric, fertilizers and chemical products industry.”
The Indian government defended its position by stating that it resorted to Russian crude “because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe” after the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, a policy that defended as a way of guaranteeing “foreseeable and affordable energy costs” for its citizens.
The statement also emphasizes that “the United States at that time actively encouraged these imports by India to strengthen the stability of global energy markets.”
The Executive emphasizes that, unlike the Indian case, the trade that the United States and the European Union with Russia maintain does not obey a “vital national need.”
The declaration of India occurs a few hours after the US president, Donald Trump, announced an increase in Indian exports tariffs as a consequence of their purchases of Russian crude oil.
“They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by Russian war machinery,” Trump lamented by justifying the measure.
India, the third largest oil importer in the world, has adopted a neutral position in the Ukraine War, and since 2022 has significantly increased its purchases of Russian oil, going from less than 2 % to more than one third of its total imports, according to official figures.
