S Jaishankar Responded Strongly After EU Called For Action Against India For Buying Oil Products From Russia
Update: 2023-05-17 11:45 IST
S Jaishankar
S. Jaishankar, the minister of external affairs, has responded to Josep Borrell's concerns over Indian refined products made from Russian crude. On Tuesday, Jaishankar asked Borrell to address Regulation 833/2014 of the EU Council. This legislation recognises that Russian crude undergoes substantial alteration in a third country and thereafter no longer qualifies as Russian.
The EU should crack down on India selling Russian oil as refined fuels, especially diesel, into Europe, according to the chief diplomat of the group, who made that statement earlier as Western nations moved to strengthen sanctions against Moscow's energy industry.
"India buys Russian oil, it's normal... " said EU's Foreign policy chief Borrell however, in an interview, he urges the bloc to take action on refined goods derived from Russian crude imported from India. Borrell met Jaishankar during the trade technology negotiations in Brussels, but he was absent from the press conference that followed.
In his stead, Margrethe Vestager, the EU's executive vice president for competition, stated that there was "no doubt about the legal basis of the sanctions" and that the EU and India would discuss the matter as "friends... with an extended hand and, of course, not a pointed finger."
Meanwhile, Commerce minister Piyush Goyal and Union Minister of State for Entrepreneurship, Skill Development, Electronics and Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar, attended the meeting in addition to Jaishankar. Jaishankar arrived in Brussels on Monday for the final leg of his trip to Bangladesh, Sweden, and Belgium.
However, Jaishankar had previously defended India's imports from Russia while subtly attacking the West for pressuring New Delhi to reduce its trade with Russia in light of its military intervention in Ukraine.