India responds to Borrell’s call for sanctions over Russian oil imports

Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar recommended that the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, familiarize himself with the regulations of the EU Council. Thus, he commented on Borrell’s call to impose sanctions to limit India’s purchases of Russian oil, transmits ani agency.

“Look at the rules of the EU Council: Russian oil is significantly processed in third countries and is no longer considered Russian. I urge you to familiarize yourself with the EU Council Regulation 833/2014 (it concerns EU sanctions against Russia – ed.),” he said.

The day before, May 16, in an interview with the Financial Times, Borrell offered limit the supply of oil from India to the European Union. According to him, oil refining in India and its further transportation to the EU countries can be considered as a circumvention of sanctions. At the same time, Borrell noted that the EU has nothing against India’s purchases of Russian oil at a price below the established ceiling.

According to the newspaper, Indian refineries are now making big profits by buying Russian crude oil at a discount and then reselling it to other countries at full price.

Earlier, Reuters, citing data from the International Energy Agency wrotethat in 2022 India increased its imports of Russian oil by 16 times, it accounts for about a third of all deliveries to the country. In April, Vedomosti wrote on a fourfold increase in oil supplies from Russia to India compared to March 2022 – up to 2.14 million barrels per day.