'Does gas coming to Europe not fund war in Ukraine?' India slams critics
Foreign Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also slammed European countries for their repeated criticism of New Delhi for buying oil from Russia.
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FollowAfter a group of European nations alleged that India is funding Russia for war against Ukraine, India has hit back against them and questioned whether 'buying Russian gas not funding the war.'
Speaking at GlobSec 2022 Bratislava Forum, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, who is on a four-day trip to Slovakia and the Czech Republic, said: "It is only Indian money and oil coming to India that funds it, but not the gas coming to Europe? Let us be a little even-handed out here."
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During the event, Jaishankar also slammed European countries for their repeated criticism of New Delhi for buying oil from Russia. He also questioned the Joe Biden-led United States administration's decision to not make Iranian and Venezuelan oil sanctions free.
The foreign minister also mentioned that India does not establish foreign policy choices that are 'cynical or transactional' in nature. Its stand on the war between the two countries is in the context of its relationship with China.
Slamming Europe for their dual standard, he said, "Today, Europe is buying oil, Europe is buying gas (from Russia)... Their sanctions have been designed in a way where consideration has been given to the welfare of its population. People need to understand that if you can be considerate to yourself, surely you can be considerate to others," he said.
Trans-shipment of Russian fuel from India
Jaishankar refuted the allegations and said, "There is a huge shortage oil, there is a physical shortage of oil, access to oil is difficult, a country like India would be crazy to get the oil from somebody else and sell to somebody else, this is nonsense."
He also urged them to change their mindset with regard to problems persisting in other than European nations.
Jaishankar said, "Europe has to grow up out of the mindset that Europe's problems are the world's problem but the world's problems are not Europe's problem, it is you... it's yours, it is me... it's ours."
Wheat export ban
Defending the ban imposed by the Narendra Modi government with regard to imposing a ban on the export of wheat, the minister said that Indian wheat was stocked and used for speculative trading.
He said the decision was because New Delhi wanted poorer nations to procure wheat.
Countries like Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Yemen, Sudan and the Gulf countries among others, who are traditional buyers of Indian wheat, were 'squeezed out'.
"We will not give speculators open access to the Indian market."
He further added that the wheat has been exported to 23 countries.
Iranian and Venezuelan oil
The United States and the West have been saying that India's purchase of Russian oil has gone up nine times. The minister said, it happened 'due to a low base'.
"If countries in Europe and the West and the US are so concerned, why don’t they allow Iranian oil to come into the market? Why don’t they allow Venezuelan oil to come into the market? They have squeezed every other source of oil we had and now they say not to get the best deal for your own people. I don’t think that’s a fair approach," he added.
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