MUNICH: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that India has committed to stop buying Russian oil, days after New Delhi reiterated that “national interests” will be the “guiding factor” for India’s energy procurement.
US President Donald Trump, while announcing a trade deal with New Delhi early in February, claimed India had agreed to not procure crude oil from Russia.
Since then, the US has claimed multiple times that India will stop buying oil from Russia.
Speaking at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Rubio said, “In our conversations with India, we’ve gotten their commitment to stop buying additional Russian oil."
Rubio was responding to a question on the Russia-Ukraine war and the sanctions imposed on Moscow.
After announcing the deal, in an executive order, Trump rolled back an additional 25 per cent tariffs on India that he imposed in August last for India's procurement of crude oil from Russia.
Earlier, India had said that it would maintain multiple sources for crude oil purchases and diversify them to ensure stability in the supply chain, with national interests remaining the "guiding factor" for the procurement, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said this week.