US warns India over oil deal with Russia

[Lucius]

Why the US should warn? Don't they believe India is an Independent country? Do they only believe that Ukraine is an independent country? I am not supporting the Russia-Ukraine war anyway. Russia should stop killing people. But not agree with the US, the sanctions given by the USA, not by India or the world. It doesn't necessary to follow the US in every section. India is an independent country and they have the right to take their own decision. They have to think positively for their own nation, not for US or US citizens. The US should stop interfering in every country, it's quite ridiculous they want to role the world.

You think logically, but the world has long since ceased to be a place of logic, and has become a place where power and interests rule. The US behaves like a world policeman who reacts to irregularities, but only those that will not harm their personal interests. At one time, they went to war against Iraq and Afghanistan because of what later turned out to be false reports of weapons of mass destruction or that Afghanistan was a world terrorist base.

What is the result of that policy? Both countries have been left in chaos, people are living worse than before, the number of people they have killed is in the hundreds of thousands. As for India, it is no secret that they are great allies of the US, and that their attitudes towards China are almost identical to those of the US - so this warning should be understood as a warning more of a cosmetic meaning than a real threat.

In Europe, we have a case where a country that is in accession negotiations with the EU (Serbia) refuses to impose any sanctions on Russia - and helps them by maintaining an air corridor with Moscow through which Russians travel carefree throughout the EU. I have not read anywhere that the US is protesting against this, although the EU does not have a firm stance on such things either.

Unfortunately, the world is full of hypocrites who say one thing and do something completely different - as well as news that should deceive the public, while on the other hand, everyone does what they want.

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[Rruchi man]

As long as other countries, most known being Germany, keep buying gas and oil from Russia, I'm not convinced that India will care that much about all this. India can easily point fingers and shrug.

True, a big question is if the United States has given same response to countries like Germany and Netherlands that still buy or just trying to intimidate India to a decision that they did not take.

There were concerns before the Russian-Ukranian crisis escalated that the US representing NATO did not handle negotiations well enough diplomatically, but went on to issue verbal threats in forms of sanctions to try bully Putin, this didn't turn out well. Why use terms like "a move to the wrong side of history?" for an independent and big country like India, it is provocative and a leader who is hot headed may not react well to such.

Ask yourselves, if it were India that sanctioned Russia, will the US follow suit and obey? some issues are better handled diplomatically, let the other party see reason with you, instead of just dishing out unnecessary threats.

[Gyfts]

Russia sanctions is suppose to be within the EU and NATO countries but India is not part of it, and the restrictions extending there to India ? Russia will discount to more countries that are not NATO or EU for survival for the sale of oil or other products. I don't think India or China will stop buying from Russia, these countries are likely to form an alliance.

This statement is incorrect. Now the entire civilized world is uniting to punish Russia with economic sanctions as an aggressor that unleashed a war against Ukraine and shelled peaceful cities and killed civilians. This is the largest war of conquest in Europe since the Second World War. But states are only just beginning to understand the danger of what is happening. Therefore, Germany is already joining the sanctions and supporting Ukraine with weapons.
The US has also warned China not to have trade deals with Russia, so the same warning against India is logical. If Putin is allowed to go further, the entire human civilization may suffer. In the 21st century, with current technology, wars of this magnitude are unacceptable.

The U.S. has no authority to dictate international commerce. Any bilateral transactions between countries is not their business. It is not India's responsibility that the U.S. elected a senile leader that paved the way for Ukraine to be invaded. India does not share the westernized vision of green energy with electric cars and solar panels - they need cheap oil. The sanctions just make Putin more desperate which means more dead Ukrainian civilians. By the way, China has no problems trading with Russia despite the pathetic pleas of the Biden administration to China to financially restrict ties.

[Silberman]

A complete oil embargo cannot be imposed unless all countries comply with that embargo.
During the sanctions imposed on the Iranian regime, that country sold oil to some countries, and Russia's capabilities are much greater than Iran's.

It's gaining opportunities, Russia can sell oil at less than the world price and still be profitable, and the same for India, Russia is closer to them than Saudi Arabia and they can get them at a discount.

The problem lies in dealing in dollars, and this can be bypassed by using the barter system or by keeping mutual reserves between the two countries without the need to impose financial penalties on them because they did not use the dollar in those operations.

What happens is that at some point the discounts offered by Russia will simply be too big for some countries to ignore and they will begin to buy oil and gas from Russia at prices lower than what they can do on the open market, and empty threats like being on the wrong side of history means little if they can get those discounts for the long term while the rest of the world needs to deal with high prices of oil and the inflation this will bring, so I would not be surprised if many other countries follow India and begin to buy Russian oil.

[Oceat]

Does it matter? Many European countries are still buying from Russia. So what's the problem with India? It's hilarious to see when US speaks such non sense because they are the only country who are responsible for the most number of wars in the history of humankind.

Indians didn't forget 1971 war when Bangladesh was liberated from the hold of Pakistan by Indian forces. The entire world was against India except Russia. Russian submarines were present at the warfield by the request of Indian Prime minister Indira Gandhi. Take a little history lesson and you will understand why India refrained from voting against Russia in UN.

USA think they could control everyone by using such laws in the present where in the past they are the ones making all of the trouble. I haven't heard any US story that doesn't involve them in any conflict of a country, they are always present to such extents they always interfere to the other countries.

Now, I understand why India choose to make some trade to Russia and I don't have a problem with that since it was called paying some respect. They also gain a discount when dealing with Russia so I don't think there's a political problem with this when all they did was just grabbing the opportunity.

[cabron]

What does this wrong side of history mean by the way?

The US will still need India even if India will keep buying gas and oil from Russia. They need India to deter China after Russia so whatever India will do will just have to be done and the US couldn't stop them because they know they are much needed as geographically, India is closer to China.

How is such a move going to put India on the wrong side of history? Buying gas from anyone regardless of who they are means democracy.  
It's the same thing as the US allowing Iran to have a nuclear deal with Russia so that does also puts the US on the wrong side of history?

[adaseb]

Basically I agree with the replies above. The oil embargo won’t work unless all countries stop buying their oil because one country will just sell to another while buying Russian oil since they are not sanctioned. Basically it will all balance out.

I think this is the reason why the oil markets have cooled off. People realized that countries will just buy oil from other countries which don’t sanction Russian oil and in the end everything will be balanced as before. So this is why every country needs to sanctions all of Russian products if they want to have any affect on anything.

[Sithara007]

India should tell the US to GTFO. Afterall, the sky high prices for crude oil that we are witnessing right now resulted from Biden's crazy policies such as stopping the Keystone XL pipeline and banning of fracking in federal lands. The US has used crude oil price as a weapon since time immemorial. In oil consuming countries such as India, the Americans have used high crude oil prices as a tool to instigate popular opinion against the ruling government. Being an Indian, I fully support the decision from my government to purchase Russian crude instead of oil from terror-funding gulf states.

[el kaka22]

We can't go on like this. I mean I get that there could be sides of this war, there could be west vs Russia type of war and everyone could make their own dealings with it.

However, I do not understand the forcing nations to pick a side. I mean if India or any other nation provided soldiers and money and help to Russia to win this war, then I would understand how that could be bad, after all you are helping one nation to hurt the other one, and in that case there is a choosing a side. But, if I want to buy oils from both the USA and Russia at the same time during this period, I should be able to. You can't just warn people for business.

[Lubang Bawah]

Russia is the largest oil supply country for India, apart from Iran, of course it will be a serious problem if there is no deal with Russia, looking for a replacement that can supply oil in the short term is certainly very difficult especially the trend of oil prices continues to rise, making oil producers Have a strong bargaining value.

[asus09]

Ignore the pressure of the United States, India continues to buy cheap oil from Russia, like China and India have never felt afraid of the threat of NATO ally countries, the proof is that until now they still have very good relations with Russia, I am very sure that India and China will continue to make transactions with Russia. Russia, as long as they benefit..

[Oceat]

Ignore the pressure of the United States, India continues to buy cheap oil from Russia, like China and India have never felt afraid of the threat of NATO ally countries, the proof is that until now they still have very good relations with Russia, I am very sure that India and China will continue to make transactions with Russia. Russia, as long as they benefit..

Yes of course, they will since after all Asian countries don't want to get involve with their sanctions trip like making a vote whose side are you. After all, if this war ended do you think they like what they did to the other country because they choose sides? The way I see it, Asian countries don't want to get involve and just want to mind their own business since they have their own problem with their land. NATO has always been like this since in the past I think it's time they should stop interfering.

[Leviathan.007]

I personally expected much more than this from the USA and some other governments, they should support Ukraine more than this. India has been a great oil buyer from all countries all over the world, they probably prefer to buy oil from cheaper oil sellers, for example, they buy oil from Iran and some other countries under sanctions because these countries cannot sell their oil normally, however even if India stops selling oil from Rusia there are many other buyers they will keep trading with Russia like China and some other countries who got relations with Russia.

[Fortify]

White House Press Secretary Jane Sackie said, "We believe that India will not violate US sanctions by buying oil from Russia through discounts." However, he warned India that such a move would lead the world's largest democracy to the wrong side of history.

India's largest refiner, Indian Oil Corporation, bought 3 million barrels of crude oil from Russia, Reuters reported on Monday. This is the first such transaction since Russia launched an operation in Ukraine on February 24. Indian officials also told Reuters that Delhi could accept Russian offers for oil and other products at a special discount.

India is playing a rather treacherous game in siding with Putin in this war and the politicians of India are taking the country down a dark path. It seems like even China is now starting to regret partnering with Russia because they are so isolated from the most valuable trading economies in the world. The world will always remember this betrayal by India and it is a shame that this supposedly democratic people are not doing more to convince their government to back the right side. There has been zero justification for the invasion of Ukraine and it seems the only thing this country is interested in is profiteering from the blood of innocent people - downright shameful.

[Freeesta]

And why not? If this deal goes through, then payment will be made in Russian rubles or Indian rupees. It is beneficial for both countries. These countries need to strengthen their economies and enter the market with their local currency, avoiding the conventional one. If the deal is beneficial for the two countries, then who can stop it?  And if some countries do not give their approval, this will not bother anyone.

[fiulpro]

They said it's not : "illegal"
But at the same time they should also realize that what side they would want to be on when the history books would be written as well. This is what they said , they did not issue a clear cut warning which does mean that there is no way this is going to hurt the whole system but there is a huge chance that US might be ware of the India but at the same time Indians in Ukraine are facing a lot of Racism which is making it harder for the governments to choose the sides in the whole situation, people are getting beaten up as well. I know since I faced the whole situation, Russians are providing fair ground for Indians to escape this situation as well, therefore I do think that the Indian government is quiet at the moment and there seems to be no resolution but they still did send humanitarian aid to Ukraine.

[eaLiTy]

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As long as other countries, most known being Germany, keep buying gas and oil from Russia, I'm not convinced that India will care that much about all this. India can easily point fingers and shrug. They'll probably need something more palpable from the richer guys - either a better offer, either some clearer threats - in order to get to care.

China, India and UAE were notable for not voting against Russia resolution and you still think that India is thinking that they can put the blame on Europe especially Germany for getting the oil then you are simplifying the political situation that is ongoing  .

Unfortunately the countries and politicians are not as nice, good-willing and united as we'd like to believe. Everybody goes for his own interest as long as it doesn't look so bad to the others, and sometimes even if it looks bad it doesn't matter.

That is politics, if other countries can provide a better deal for the oil be it OPEC or the US they will procure from them, i am no way supporting the right wing government in India but there is a history between India and Russia during a war when US was supporting Pakistan and Russia literally saved India by blocking US in getting involved during the 1971 war. India cannot survive fighting China and Russia, so everything is political and strategical.

 

[Oilacris]

And why not? If this deal goes through, then payment will be made in Russian rubles or Indian rupees. It is beneficial for both countries. These countries need to strengthen their economies and enter the market with their local currency, avoiding the conventional one. If the deal is beneficial for the two countries, then who can stop it?  And if some countries do not give their approval, this will not bother anyone.

This is actually on point but we know that some big countries does really have that kind of supremacy over other countries which turns out that their words will really be ending up like a threat if they

do make out such move which as a leader on a specific country then you would really be that hesitate but its true that this is pertaining on someones economic matters which would really
be beneficial.It is really just that surrounding countries do really look on something transactions which is connected and doesnt look a good one.

[kaya11]

White House Press Secretary Jane Sackie said, "We believe that India will not violate US sanctions by buying oil from Russia through discounts." However, he warned India that such a move would lead the world's largest democracy to the wrong side of history.

India's largest refiner, Indian Oil Corporation, bought 3 million barrels of crude oil from Russia, Reuters reported on Monday. This is the first such transaction since Russia launched an operation in Ukraine on February 24. Indian officials also told Reuters that Delhi could accept Russian offers for oil and other products at a special discount.

Link: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/russia-india-oil-deal-us-psaki-b2036822.html

This is the right time to buy oil and other products from Russia, a great opportunity to cut the price and boost their own economy. How come they would let it slip away, a chance in a lifetime. The country is struggling and you expect them to buy oil at higher prices where there are much cheaper? The thing is it is not just India, there are others too and in European countries are the one should start boycotting first.

[Sithara007]

This is the right time to buy oil and other products from Russia, a great opportunity to cut the price and boost their own economy. How come they would let it slip away, a chance in a lifetime. The country is struggling and you expect them to buy oil at higher prices where there are much cheaper? The thing is it is not just India, there are others too and in European countries are the one should start boycotting first.

For the government in India, there is no other choice. When the crude oil was trading at $40-$50 per barrel, they increased the taxes and used the tax revenue for various welfare projects. These welfare projects ensured the victory of the ruling party (BJP) during the 2019 general elections. Now the petrol/diesel/natural gas prices have increased in India and there is a lot of popular anger against the government. On top of that, the government is facing a revenue shortfall due to the COVID pandemic.