Jaishankar says oil buys guided by costs, risks, Rubio insists India pledged to halt imports from Russia

New Delhi: India’s energy companies will factor in costs, availability and risks while making import choices, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said in Munich on Saturday, even as his United States counterpart, Marco Rubio, once again claimed that President Donald Trump’s administration in Washington, DC, had secured New Delhi’s commitment to stop buying oil from Russia.

“Oil companies in India, as in Europe, as probably in other parts of the world, look at availability, look at costs, look at risks and take the decisions that they feel are in their best interest,” Jaishankar said at an event held on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

He was asked if the recently announced trade deal between New Delhi and Washington, DC, would force India to slash its energy imports from Russia.

“So many things are changing, and so many of us are doing our calculations and recalculations,” said the external affairs minister.

Rubio, however, said on the same day that New Delhi had assured Washington, D.C., of its commitment to stop buying oil from Russia. The US Secretary of State was also speaking at the Munich Security Conference.

Jaishankar and Rubio had a brief interaction with Rubio on the sidelines of the conclave.

“We are very much wedded to strategic autonomy because it's very much a part of our history and our evolution,” said the external affairs minister, adding: “It is something which is very deep, and it is something which cuts across the political spectrum as well.”

He was replying to a query on the strategic autonomy of India.

“We would not necessarily agree on everything, but I do believe that by doing that, and if there is an inclination to find common ground and overlaps, that would happen. But if the bottom line of your question is, would I remain independent-minded and make my decisions, and would I make choices which sometimes may not agree with your thinking or somebody else's thinking, yes, it can happen,” said Jaishankar.

Trump last week issued an executive order in Washington, D.C., withdrawing the 25% punitive tariff he had imposed in August 2025 on India’s exports to the US to persuade Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government in New Delhi to stop importing crude oil from Russia. He, however, warned that the tariff might be reimposed if India restarted importing oil from Russia in the future.

Washington, D.C., moved to rescind the punitive tariff on India’s exports to the US on a day when the two sides issued a joint statement announcing that they had reached a framework for an interim agreement on “reciprocal, mutually beneficial trade”.

Trump noted in his executive order last week that India had taken significant steps to align sufficiently with the US on national security, foreign policy and economic matters.

“India has committed to stop directly or indirectly importing Russian Federation oil, has represented that it will purchase United States energy products from the United States, and has recently committed to a framework with the United States to expand defence cooperation over the next 10 years,” claimed Trump.