India is our key strategic partner in Indo-Pacific, values bilateral ties with India: the US
New Delhi: The White House Security Council Coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby on Tuesday said, “India is a very key strategic partner of the US in the strategically important Indo-Pacific region, and Washington values its bilateral relationship with New Delhi,”
In the last few years, India and the US have developed more strategic and bilateral relations to counter challenges raised at the international level. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and former US Presidents Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and current US President Joe Biden, the relations between the two countries are at the next level.
On India’s mindset to purchase discounted oil from Russia, Kirby said, “Noting is in the context of Russia, every country has to make its decision. We will let Indian leaders speak about their economic policies. What I can just tell you is we value this bilateral relationship with India and we continue to want,”
India has not condemned the Russian attack so far for invading Ukraine and has been pressing for an immediate cessation of violence and a resolution of the crisis through diplomacy and dialogue.
According to industry data, Russia has overtaken Saudi Arabia to become India’s second-biggest supplier of oil behind Iraq as refiners snap up Russian crude available at a deep discount following the war in Ukraine. Indian refiners bought about 25 million barrels of Russian oil in May or more than 16% of all their oil imports. There has been some disquiet in western capitals over India’s position on the Ukraine crisis as well as its decision to procure discounted Russian oil.
Earlier this month, India once again asserted that its procurement of crude oil from Russia is guided by its energy security requirements. Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) Spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said many countries have taken policy decisions with a similar perspective and procurement of oil from Russia is not an India-related issue.
(Vinayak)
