Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Amid worsening relations between the US-led West and India over purchase of oil and arms from Russia and tariff tantrums, India started counter-attacking them, exposing America’s role in arming Pakistan before 1971, indirectly allowing New Delhi to purchase crude from Moscow since 2022, and turning a blind eye on Europe buying the refined oil from India.
India also exposed the West’s hypocrisy on its continuing purchases from Russia while lecturing other countries to refrain from it.
Amid mounting US criticism of India’s purchase of crude oil from Russia, the Indian Army on Tuesday posted a news clip of August 1971 which highlighted the role played by America in arming Pakistan “since 1954.”
The news clip was shared in a post by the Indian Army’s Eastern Command on X (formerly Twitter), the media reported.
“#IndianArmy #EasternCommand #VijayVarsh #LiberationOfBangladesh #MediaHighlights ‘This Day That Year” Build Up of War – 05 Aug 1971 #KnowFacts.
“US Arms Worth $2 Billion Shipped to Pakistan Since ’54,” it said.
The news, published a few months before the Pakistan-India War of 1971 that led to creation of Bangladesh, talks about the role the US had played in arming Pakistan for nearly two decades.
It quotes V. C. Shukla, then Union Minister for Defence Production, telling the Rajya Sabha about the estimated valuation of the arms supplied for that period.
The social media post comes amid ongoing criticism by Washington on New Delhi’s purchase of crude oil from Russia.
India on Monday also mounted an unusually sharp counterattack on the US and the European Union for their “unjustified and unreasonable” targeting of New Delhi for the procurement of Russian crude oil.
New Delhi’s response came hours after US President Donald Trump asserted that Washington will “substantially” raise tariffs on goods from India over its energy ties with Russia.
Firmly rejecting the criticism, India pointed out the double standards in targeting it on the issue and said both the US and the EU are continuing their trade relations with Russia.
“Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion,” the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.
The Europe-Russia trade includes not just energy, but also fertilisers, mining products, chemicals, iron and steel, and machinery and transport equipment, the MEA said in a late-evening statement on Monday.
“Where the US is concerned, it continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilizers as well as chemicals,” it added.
“In this background, the targeting of India is unjustified and unreasonable. Like any major economy, India will take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security,” the MEA said.
It said India has been “targeted” by the US and the EU for importing oil from Russia after the commencement of the Ukraine conflict. Interestingly, Europe, which, under the US pressure, stopped purchasing crude from Russia, is buying the refined Russian oil via India.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), in a strongly worded statement on Monday, defended the policy as a necessity “compelled by global market situation” and aimed at ensuring “predictable and affordable energy costs” for Indian consumers.
The MEA also pointed out that the US and European Union (EU), both vocal critics, continue to trade extensively with Russia. EU’s trade with Moscow in 2024 amounted to €67.5 billion in goods and €17.2 billion in services, including record imports of liquefied natural gas (LNG).
India, however, stated that while it remains open to dialogue, New Delhi will “take all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security”.
Trump, who has imposed a 25 percent tariff on Indian imports and threatened to raise duties as high as 100 percent, has accused India of “financing” Russia’s war in Ukraine and profiting from the resale of crude. His administration has also stalled bilateral trade negotiations, with agriculture and dairy emerging as contentious sectors.
Meanwhile, a video of former US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti, admitting Washington had encouraged such purchases to stabilise global oil prices, has resurfaced on social media. The now-viral clip, recorded at an event last year when Garcetti was still in office, shows him acknowledging US support for New Delhi’s decision to buy Russian oil.
“They bought Russian oil because we wanted somebody to buy Russian oil at a price cap. That was not a violation or anything. It was actually the design of the policy because, as a commodity, we didn’t want the oil prices going up, and they fulfilled that,” Garcetti was quoted as saying.
India is currently the largest buyer of seaborne Russian crude, taking advantage of discounted rates since the Ukraine conflict began in February 2022.
In 2022 itself, then US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also said that India could purchase “as much Russian oil as it wanted” and at any price, provided it avoided using Western services.
In February 2024, then-US Assistant Secretary of State Geoffrey Pyatt even credited India with “playing a key role” in stabilising global energy markets through such purchases amid the ongoing fallout from Russia’s war in Ukraine.
“India has played a key role in our effort to stabilise global energy markets in the face of the extraordinary destabilisation caused by Vladimir Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine and his weaponisation of his oil and gas resources,” Pyatt said.
He noted that the G7-led Russian crude oil price cap, implemented in December 2022, had succeeded in cutting Russia’s oil revenues by roughly a third while keeping its oil in circulation to avoid further market turmoil.
“There is no daylight between us – the US and India – in terms of our approach to this issue,” Pyatt affirmed.