The Russian Foreign Ministry, as reported by the state-owned news agency TASS, has affirmed that deliveries of Russian oil to India remain consistently robust, without encountering any payment issues.
“Russian oil supplies to India are maintained at a steadily high level; no problems arise with determining means of payment for oil exported by Russia,” Maria Zakharova, the official spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, said at a briefing on Wednesday.
The priority in payments “is given to national currencies,” she highlighted.
“This makes it possible not to depend on the so-called ‘rules of the game’ imposed by the Westerners when making banking transactions,” TASS quoted Zakharova as saying.
In February of this year, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar reiterated India’s commitment to purchasing Russian oil despite sanctions imposed on Moscow amidst the military conflict with Ukraine. Jaishankar emphasized the longstanding “stable and friendly ties” between India and Russia, noting that Moscow has consistently respected New Delhi’s interests.
During an interview with the German economic daily Handelsblatt while attending the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Jaishankar underscored the need for Europe to recognize that India’s perspective on Russia may differ from that of Europe.
“Everyone conducts a relationship based on their past experiences. If I look at the history of India post-independence, Russia has never hurt our interests.”
He mentioned that India and Europe have engaged in discussions regarding their respective positions and have not highlighted their disagreements. He noted that Europe redirected a significant portion of its energy procurement to the Middle East following the outbreak of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Prior to this conflict, Russia served as the primary energy supplier for India and other nations.
“What should we have done? In many cases, our Middle East suppliers gave priority to Europe because Europe paid higher prices. Either we would have had no energy because everything would have gone to them. Or we would have ended up paying a lot more because you were paying more. And in a certain way, we stabilised the energy market that way,” he added.
