During his first visit to Moscow since the military operation in Ukraine began, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar told his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov that his country will continue buying cheap oil from Russia. The two foreign ministers also discussed initiatives to boost cooperation in agriculture, defence and infrastructure.

New Delhi, despite Western pressure, has not condemned Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine and is now Moscow’s largest oil customer after China. India traditionally purchases its oil from Iraq and Saudi Arabia, but Russian imports have surged due to its favourable prices offered to countries that have not imposed sanctions.

Russia became India’s main supplier of oil in October, exporting 946,000 barrels per day, according to energy analytics firm Vortexa. Before the war in Ukraine, Russian oil accounted for very little of India’s imports. However, with western-imposed sanctions on Russian oil and gas, Moscow has become an obvious partner for a New Delhi that is happy to take advantage of low-cost oil supplies. Russian oil prices have been highly competitive with Middle Eastern and African crude, leading India to deepen ties with Moscow even further.

India Takes Full Advantage of Cheap Russian Oil – Global ResearchGlobal Research – Centre for Research on Globalization