Germany lauds India's 'voice' against war in Ukraine

Jaishankar cited the EU's continued import of Russian oil to justify India's decision of doing the same

Berlin on Monday credited New Delhi with helping the G20 take a clearer position against Moscow’s military aggression against Ukraine, even as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar cited the Europe Union’s continued import of fuel from Russia to defend India’s own decision to keep doing so.

“The European Union imported more fossil fuel – oil, gas and coal – from Russia than the next 10 countries combined. There is a finite amount of energy resources and Europe cannot make choices to prioritize its energy needs while asking India to do something else,” Jaishankar said in response to a question during a joint news conference with German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock in New Delhi.

The external affairs minister also said that New Delhi had of late provided Moscow with a list of products which could be exported from India to Russia. “We have given Russians a set of products which we believe we are very competitive in and which we feel should be getting access to the Russian market,” said Jaishankar.

His comment came amid purported discussion between Moscow and New Delhi about the prospect of India exporting about 500 products, including spare parts of cars, trains and aircraft, to Russia, which had been hit by sanctions imposed by the United States and other western nations in response to Putin’s “special military operations” in Ukraine.