United States’ secretary of energy, Chris Wright, spoke about his country’s stance on India’s purchase of crude oil from Russia and said India can buy oil from any nation on earth, but not Russia.
“There are lots of oil exporters in the world. India doesn't need to buy Russian oil. India buys Russian oil because it is cheaper. Nobody wants to buy Russian oil; they have to sell it at a discount. India has decided to make the trade-off to buy cheaper oil and look the other way, which is giving money to a guy who's murdering thousands of people every week,” Wright said while answering a question during the press conference.
Terming India’s decision to make the trade-off with Russia for cheaper oil as willful ignorance of its role in the Ukraine war, Wright said the US does not want to “punish” India when it imposes steep tariffs and penalties on its exports, but just wants to end the war in Ukraine. Trump’s “greatest passion is peace”, insisted the senior official.
US President Donald Trump announced last month the imposition of additional secondary tariffs on Indian goods, taking the total duties to 50 per cent, the highest imposed on any country other than Brazil. The steep duties came into effect from August 27, and strained ties between India and the US, also leading to stalling of trade talks.
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The talks have since resumed, but Russian crude continues to be the bone of contention between the two nations.
Wright also suggested that India buy oil from the US instead, adding for good measure that he is a “huge fan” of India.
"We wish India would work with us to buy (oil). You can buy oil from every nation on the earth, just not Russian oil. That's our position. America has oil to sell, so does everybody else. We don't want to punish India. We want to end the war, and we want to grow our relations with India...," he said.
Insisting that the US wants to expand energy trade with India, Wright reiterated his President’s claims that India’s purchase of Russia’s sanctioned oil, along with China and Turkey, helps fund the war in Ukraine.
“I am a huge fan of India. We love India. We look forward to more energy trade, more interactions back and forth with India and then India is caught up in the middle of another issue. President Trump's greatest passion is peace in the world...The Russian war in Ukraine, of course, is brutal. We all want to see it come to an end. But where does the sanctioned Russian oil go? It goes to China, India, and Turkiye and that helps Russia fund that war,” Wright said.
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