EU, China are ‘fueling’ Putin’s Ukraine war: What numbers show amid lens on India

NEW DELHI: In a recent analysis, a European think-tank said that India stepped up its purchase of Russian crude by over 13 times since the February 2022 Ukraine invasion and suggested that New Delhi’s heightened imports are indirectly contributing to the conflict in the region.
The report, by the Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), said that New Delhi has purchased nearly $37 billion of crude oil from Russia last year.
While the CREA report called India’s purchase as “entirely legitimate”, it suggested that New Delhi’s largesse is “undermining western sanctions against Russia and helping Putin carry out war operations in Ukraine.”
However, a broader look at the energy imports from Russia reveal that several other countries — especially the European Union bloc — have relied heavily on fossil fuels from President Vladimir Putin’s country.
According to Russian Fossil Tracker, China has been the top importer of Russian coal, gas and oil over the last year followed by India and EU.
Interestingly, since the start of war in February 24, 2022, EU has been the largest importer of Russian fuels with combined purchases of €187.37 billion in the last two years.
While EU has gradually tapered off its dependence on Russian gas and oil, most countries have not completely cut off the purchases. This is primarily because of the different oil and gas needs of the countries in the bloc.
Moreover, some of the crude refined by India has been eventually exported to US and European countries, as also pointed out by CREA report.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar has often criticized European nations for exhibiting “double standards” in criticizing India’s oil purchase from Russia even as it continues to rely on Moscow for their energy needs.
On Saturday, in his latest comments on India’s oil purchases from Russia, Jaishankar said that what India does should not be a problem for others.
Jaishankar made the remark in response to a query on how New Delhi was balancing its growing bilateral ties with Washington while continuing to trade with Moscow.
“Is that a problem, why should that be a problem? if I am smart enough to have multiple options, you should be admiring me. Is that a problem for others? I don’t think so, suddenly in this case. We try to explain what are the different pulls and pressures that countries have. it’s very hard to have that unidimensional relationship,” Jaishankar said.
Since the war, India has repeatedly asserted that it is well within its rights to purchase Russian oil and is not in violation of sanctions.
European countries have also maintained silence at New Delhi re-exporting it as finished products.