External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Tuesday advised EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell to take a look at EU Council rules after Borrell had earlier said that the European Union should allow refined fuels including diesel into Europe as Western countries. India should act on reselling Russian oil as such. Moves to tighten restrictions on Moscow’s energy sector.
Jaishankar said in Brussels, “Look at the EU Council regulations. Russian crude oil has been largely diverted to third countries and is no longer treated as Russian. I would like to request you to refer to Council Regulation 833/2014.” Would request to see.” For action against Indian refined products from Russian crude oil.
Jaishankar reached Brussels on Monday on the last leg of his three-nation tour covering Bangladesh, Sweden and Belgium.
On earlier occasions, Jaishankar has defended India’s imports from Russia, while indirectly criticizing the West for pressuring New Delhi to reduce its trade with Russia in the wake of its military action in Ukraine .
“Our trade with Russia is on a very small scale – $12-13 billion compared to European countries. We have also given a set of products to the Russians … I don’t think people should read more into this.” Addressing a joint press conference with his German counterpart Annalena Bierbock last December, Jaishankar had said that any trading nation has legitimate aspirations to increase its trade.
“I would urge you to look at these figures. There is a website called ‘Russia Fossil Fuel Tracker’ which will give you country-by-country data on who is actually importing what and I suspect it could be very helpful , ” he had added.