In response to recent comments by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, India has defended its oil trade with Russia and emphasized the role it plays in maintaining global energy market stability. This stance was formulated by Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar after a meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Zelenskyy in Kiev.

Explaining India’s position, Jaishankar said, “…it is in the interest of the international economy as a whole that oil prices remain reasonable and stable.” He highlighted the current complexity of the global energy market, noting that sanctions against major oil producers have led to supply constraints.

During a press conference with Indian media, Zelenskyy emphasized India’s global influence and its potential role in pressuring Russia. He said, “You can stop Vladimir Putin and stop his economy and really put him in his place.” The Ukrainian leader added, “India’s role…if you stop the import of oil, Putin will have huge challenges…”, as quoted by ET.

However, these comments appear to contradict the discussions previously held between the two leaders.

The Minister elaborated on India’s approach. “There is a market strategy to buy oil. So the numbers for where we get our oil imports go up and down. It depends on the state of the market.” Jaishankar emphasized that India, as a significant oil consumer and importer, makes its purchasing decisions based on market conditions rather than political considerations, according to the report.

Jaishankar elaborated India’s perspective: “…what we did was to explain to the Ukrainian side what was the energy market scenario, the fact that today many energy producers are sanctioned, which makes the market potentially very tight; and why actually today there is a compulsion, actually not just a compulsion, I mean why it is in the interest of the international economy as a whole that oil prices remain reasonable and stable,” as quoted in the report.

New data suggests that India has become the largest buyer of Russian oil, surpassing China. In July, Russian crude accounted for a record 44% of India’s total imports, reaching 2.07 million barrels per day – up 4.2% from June and up 12% year-on-year.