NEW DELHI: Hours after the European Union (EU) agreed upon an 18th spherical of sanctions on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, India on Friday mentioned that it doesn’t subscribe to any unilateral sanction measures and that there needs to be no “double requirements”, particularly with regards to power commerce. “We now have famous the most recent sanctions introduced by the European Union. India doesn’t subscribe to any unilateral sanction measures. We’re a accountable actor and stay totally dedicated to our authorized obligations,” Ministry of Exterior Affairs (MEA) spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal mentioned in response to media queries concerning the difficulty.
“Authorities of India considers the supply of power safety a accountability of paramount significance to fulfill the fundamental wants of its residents. We’d stress that there needs to be no double requirements, particularly with regards to power commerce,” he added.
Based on the EU, the 18th Russia sanctions bundle focuses on 5 constructing blocks: chopping Russia’s power revenues, hitting Russia’s banking sector, additional weakening its military-industrial advanced, strengthening anti-circumvention measures, and holding Russia accountable for its crimes in opposition to Ukrainian youngsters and cultural heritage.
“With this bundle, the variety of listed vessels in Russia’s shadow fleet reaches a complete of 444 vessels, and the variety of particular person listings exceeds 2,500. This bundle additionally contains new sanctions in opposition to Belarus,” learn the EU assertion.
On Thursday, Union Minister of Petroleum and Pure Gasoline Hardeep Singh Puri mentioned that India has diversified its sources for purchasing oil within the international market, attributable to which the federal government just isn’t “unduly frightened” over any US crackdown on Russia’s oil exports.
Talking on the Urja Varta 2025, the minister mentioned India at the moment buys oil from 40 nations, as in comparison with 27 international locations in 2007, and the worldwide market is well-supplied.
“There may be quite a lot of oil obtainable out there. Iran and Venezuela are at the moment underneath sanctions. However are they going to be underneath sanctions ceaselessly? Many international locations, together with Brazil, Canada and others, are ramping up output. I’m not unduly frightened about provides as of now. We now have diversified our sources,” Puri mentioned.
The minister’s assertion got here in opposition to the backdrop of US President Donald Trump saying that secondary sanctions can be imposed on international locations shopping for Russian oil.
On July 15, Trump had threatened to impose critical commerce restrictions on Russia except a peace take care of Ukraine is reached inside 50 days. Trump mentioned US tariffs on Russian exports can be elevated to 100 per cent, whereas additionally threatening to impose secondary sanctions on international locations akin to India and China that purchase oil from Russia.
In the meantime, Moscow on Friday described the transfer as illegal and emphasised that it’s going to assess the most recent bundle with the intention to minimise its influence.
“To date, we proceed to watch a reasonably constant anti-Russian stance from Europe. We now have repeatedly acknowledged that we view such unilateral restrictions as unlawful and we oppose them,” Russian state-run information company TASS quoted Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov as saying.
Peskov additional emphasised that the Russian management will assess the most recent bundle of European sanctions with the intention to minimise its influence. “Undoubtedly, the brand new bundle will should be completely analysed with the intention to minimise its influence,” mentioned Peskov.
He additional asserted that Russia has developed a level of immunity to sanctions over the course of repeated waves of Western restrictions. “Over time, we now have certainly developed a sure immunity to sanctions and have tailored to dwelling underneath such situations,” he famous.