India reacts to Trump’s Russian oil claim; MEA says, ‘Our priority is…’ | India News

Following US President Donald Trump’s claim that India had agreed to stop buying Russian oil, State Department Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal on Thursday announced that the government had previously stated that ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion Indian citizens is the priority of the Indian government.

MEA Spokesperson in the press conference said that India has a long-standing partner with Venezuela in the field of energy.

Jaiswal said: “The government has publicly stated on various occasions that ensuring energy security of 1.4 billion Indians is our government’s top priority. Diversifying our energy resources in line with objective market conditions and evolving international dynamics forms the basis of our strategy to ensure this. All India’s decisions have been and will be taken keeping this in mind.”

He added: “As far as Venezuela is concerned, it has been a long-standing partner for us in the energy space, both on the trade and investment side. We were importing energy and crude oil from Venezuela until 2019-20, then we had to stop. In 2023-24, we started importing oil from Venezuela again but had to stop after sanctions were reimposed… Consistent with our approach to energy security, India remains open to exploring the commercial value of any crude oil. Including Venezuela “supply as”

Also Check: ‘Nothing new, we are not the only supplier…’: Moscow after Trump claims India will stop buying Russian oil

Meanwhile, Russia also focused on developments. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Maria Vladimirovna Zakharova said there is no reason to believe that India will re-evaluate energy cooperation with Russia.

“We have no reason to believe that India is reconsidering its approach to energy cooperation with Russia,” Zakharova said, adding: “Resource trade is beneficial for both parties and contributes to maintaining stability in the international energy market.”

Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov also said, “Together with all other international energy experts, we are aware that Russia is not India’s only supplier of oil and oil products. India has always purchased these products from other countries. Therefore, we do not see anything new here.”

India-US trade deal

Following the announcement of the India-US trade agreement, Trump made statements regarding New Delhi’s oil trade with Moscow and claimed that India would stop purchasing oil and increase purchases from the US and Venezuela.

“We talked about many issues including trade and agreed to end the War with Russia and Ukraine to stop buying Russian Oil and buy much more from the US and potentially Venezuela. This will help with the WAR going on in Ukraine right now where thousands of people are dying every week!” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post earlier this week.

The trade deal was later confirmed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but no statement was made regarding the suspension of oil imports from Russia.

The bilateral trade agreement between India and the US was announced on Monday, reducing customs duties on Indian goods from 50 percent to 18 percent. In a press conference on Tuesday, Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said that the final agreement is in the final stages; This view was echoed by US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, who said the deal was “still on paper”.

(with ANI entries)