India considers cheaper Russian oil amid global sanctions

• Indian officials are looking into Russian offers of a heavy discount on oil and other products.
• Russia has suffered severe economic sanctions from world governments, including bans on oil imports.
• India, which has been a long-time trading partner of Russia, has yet to publicly condemn the ongoing war on Ukraine.

As Russia gets more isolated from the world through heavy economic sanctions, India is considering a Russian offer to purchase oil and other products at a discount.

India imports 80% of its oil needs, with only about 2-3% coming from Russia. Still, India may look into increasing its Russian imports to help reduce its rising energy bill.

“Russia is offering oil and other commodities at a heavy discount,” an Indian government official explained. “We will be happy to take that.”

The details of the offer, such as the amount of oil and manner of discount, were not made known.

According to Reuters, Indian officials are planning to continue bilateral trade with Russia and are trying to set up a rupee-rouble mechanism. They are also eyeing cheaper fertilizer from Russia and its ally, Belarus.

U.S. officials have acknowledged that India also has a heavy reliance on Russia for other commodities such as arms and ammunitions, but expressed their hopes that India would distance itself from Russia.

India has already reduced its defense imports from Russia by 53% since 2011. However, their dependence on Russian military hardware still runs as high as 60%.

Indian officials explained that they cannot immediately find a suitable replacement of suppliers, especially in the defense sector.

An official within India’s security apparatus added that the West understood that India has to keep its armed forces well supplied amid territorial disputes with China.

A U.S. law has aimed to deter countries from purchasing Russian military hardware, but it is still not clear if India will be sanctioned should their $5.5 billion deal push through.

Last week, Ely Ratner, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs, acknowledged that the majority of India’s weapons purchases are from Russia. He added that while India is already “diversifying their arms purchases away from Russia — that’s going to take some time.”

British Foreign Minister Liz Truss also suggested pursuing closer connections with India to help reduce its reliance on Russia.

Former Indian ambassador to Russia, D. Bala Venkatesh Varma, said that India should not pay a price for a fight they did not create.

India has yet to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and has abstained from voting for the United Nations’ resolution against Russia’s aggression.

Source: Reuters