By Admin 
At the Munich Security Conference in Germany, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio once again reiterated that India has assured Washington that it will not buy additional oil from Russia. India’s Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, while responding to this in the next session of the same conference, said that India is fully committed to strategic autonomy. That means India is committed to taking decisions according to its national interests independently without external pressure.
India will not buy oil from Russia – Rubio’s claim
Marco Rubio called for US sanctions on Russia on February 14 because European countries were pressuring the US to stop the Ukraine war. According to Rubio, India has assured not to buy additional oil from Russia, which means that the oil orders currently in process will not be affected, but a final decision in this regard has not been taken yet. A Reuters report claims that Indian companies, including state-owned companies, are avoiding purchasing Russian oil for delivery in April.
What did S Jaishankar say at the Munich Security Conference?
In a meeting with German Foreign Minister Johann Wedfull at the Munich Security Conference, S Jaishankar said India is fully committed to its policy of strategic autonomy and the country’s energy procurement will be determined by factors such as cost, risk and availability. He said that the global energy market is complex and Indian oil companies will take only those decisions which they feel are in their own interest. He said, ‘I think like Europe and probably other parts of the world, Indian oil companies also take decisions based on availability, cost and risk, which they feel is in their best interest.’
India can take decisions different from western ideology: S Jaishankar
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar further said that India has the option to take such decisions which do not match the Western ideology. America removed the extra 25 percent tariff imposed on India for buying Russian oil. Trump has also assigned the responsibility of monitoring Indian oil purchases to the US Commerce Secretary. If the US finds that India has resumed importing Russian oil, directly or indirectly, then a punitive duty of 25 percent may be imposed again.