Washington: ‘India is an important strategic partner of the United States. The United States attaches special importance to the relations with India and will continue to do so. But the United States intends to exert maximum pressure on Russia. Every country has to decide whether to support these efforts or not,’ the Pentagon, the US defence headquarters, has warned India. There have been reports that India is buying a large quantity of fuel from Russia. Against that backdrop, the US seems to have once again registered its displeasure through the Pentagon.
Before the start of the Ukraine conflict, India was purchasing hardly 2% of its fuel requirements from Russia. But after the conflict started, Russia proposed to sell fuel to India at concessional rates. After the outbreak of the Ukraine conflict, fuel prices in the international market skyrocketed. Therefore, India, which imports 85 per cent of the fuel demand, accepted a proposal from Russia to purchase the fuel at a concessional rate. The United States and some European countries expressed displeasure over this India-Russia fuel deal. But India did not pay any heed.
India’s fuel deal with Russia will not violate any sanctions. India’s foreign minister had pointed out from time to time that European countries and the US were also still buying fuel from Russia. The European nations had criticised that India is funding the Russian military operation in Ukraine by purchasing fuel from Russia. The Indian Foreign Minister had retorted that if buying fuels from Russia is funding Russian military action in Ukraine, then the European countries, the biggest customers of Russian fuel, are the largest funders of the Russian operation in Ukraine. The spate of accusations against India had stopped for some time after that.
But the United States has once again raised the issue of the Indian fuel purchase from Russia and has expressed displeasure over it. The reason is that India has started large-scale fuel purchases from Russia. India, which had purchased 30,000 barrels of fuel a day from Russia till February, has now started buying 1 million barrels of fuel, the US-based Wall Street Journal claimed.
The newspaper cited India and Russia’s fuel transactions in June, saying that India had purchased about 25 times more Russian fuel. The newspaper reported that Russia is giving a discount of $30 to $40 to India on the purchase of fuel compared to the international market. The Wall Street Journal reported that while crude oil prices were at $125 a barrel, India’s national companies were buying crude from Russia at a rate of $90 to $95 a barrel. The newspaper said the discount on India’s purchase of fuel from Russia continues even though crude oil prices have come down now.
Repercussions of this India-Russia cooperation are being felt in the United States. This has forced the Biden administration to take notice. The Pentagon’s displeasure over India’s partnership with Russia is part of it. However, the United States has not yet taken any concrete action against China, which is buying fuel from Russia in more quantities than India. The US has also maintained a convenient silence on the fact that European countries and Japan are still buying fuel from Russia.
Therefore, India is completely ignoring the pressure exerted by the United States to reduce cooperation with Russia. The Biden administration has been asking India in different ways whether it will put the strategic partnership with the US at stake for friendly cooperation with Russia. But India’s position is that India’s cooperation with Russia and the United States is independent and cannot be linked. While joining the QUAD, which included the US, Japan and Australia, India had similarly resisted the pressure from Russia.
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