EAM Jaishankar gives a sharp response to EU Foreign Policy Chief over Russian oil imports 

India’s External Affairs Minister Dr S. Jaishankar has been rather aggressive in countering criticism from the West, especially the European Union, over oil imports from Russia. Quite recently, EU’s Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell made a remark targeting India, saying that the EU should take action against India importing crude oil from Russia and selling it to European countries in a refined form. Jaishankar has hit back, saying that they should pay attention to the EU’s regulations since their countries are themselves importing Russian crude oil from a third country and not ‘treating’ it as Russian anymore.  

He had recently met Borrell alongside India’s Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal and IT Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar in Brussels, where they discussed several issues relating to joint interests in foreign policy and geopolitics. Jaishankar had also defended India’s oil imports from Russia, stating that their imports were not nearly as close to Europe’s gas imports from Russia itself and that India is making decisions based on national interest, not providing economic support to Russia. India further made its stance clear, saying that it wants the Russia-Ukraine conflict to end with a diplomatic dialogue between both sides.