India’s “highest priority” is ensuring energy security for its people and it is important to have a “clear-eyed” view on the broader global energy market, said Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri on Tuesday, days after the European Union unveiled new punitive measures targeting the Russian energy sector that included restrictions on the Vadinar refinery in Gujarat.
“We have been very clear that so far as energy security is concerned. It is the highest priority of the government of India to provide energy security for the people of India,” Misri said.
Misri was responding to questions at a media briefing on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s four-day visit to the United Kingdom and the Maldives.
India has significantly increased its energy procurement from Russia in the last few years notwithstanding the rising Western sanctions against Moscow since its invasion of Ukraine.
Misri was asked whether issues relating to energy security–in view of the fresh Western sanctions targeting the Russian energy sector–will figure in the Prime Minister’s talks with his British counterpart, Keir Starmer.
“We will do what we need to do with regard to that [energy security]. On energy-related issues itself, as we have said previously, it is important not to have double standards and to have a clear-eyed perception of what the global situation is, insofar as the broader energy market is concerned,” Misri told the media
The 18th package of sanctions unveiled by the 27-nation European Union last week included a set of measures largely aimed at curbing Russia’s oil and energy sector revenues, such as an import ban on refined petroleum products made from Russian crude oil and coming from any third country.
The measures also included reduction of the oil price cap from US$ 60 to about US$ 48 a barrel and the designation of the Vadinar Refinery in which Russian energy firm Rosneft has a major stake.
The foreign secretary said it is important to have clarity about where the providers of energy goods are located and where they are going to come from and who needs energy at what point in time.
I think these matters are not appreciated sufficiently, he said at the media briefing
Misri said India understands that Europe is confronting a major security issue and that the rest of the world is also dealing with “existential” issues. “We do understand that there is an important and serious security issue that is confronting Europe, but the rest of the world is also there, and [it] is also dealing with issues that are existential for the rest of the world,” he said, adding, “I think it’s important to keep balance and perspective when talking about these issues.”
