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US Wants India to Pressure Russia over Ukraine Conflict, John Kirby Says

Despite sanctions and trade restrictions imposed by western countries, Indian refiners have been increasing their oil purchases from Russia.
Sputnik
Amid the ongoing special military operation of Russia in Ukraine, United States National Security Council (US NSC) coordinator John Kirby reiterated that India shares a deep partnership with the US but also wants international pressure on Russia over Ukraine.
Addressing a press conference on Saturday, Kirby said: “President Biden is focused on making sure that the costs keep rising for Putin, that it’s harder for him to wage war. And obviously, we want to see all nations participate in those kinds of efforts.”
Earlier this week, the US NSC coordinator said that Washington was looking for more international pressure to put on Moscow.
However, Indian officials as well as External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar have repeatedly said that India would guided by what is in its own best interests when it comes to putting pressure on Russia.
Notably, India has increased energy imports from Russia despite global sanctions. The US responded to this by telling New Delhi that it would not want to see Russian energy imports rapidly accelerating.
Earlier this month, federal minister Jaishankar lashed out against the unfair criticism concerning energy imports from Russia during the ongoing special military operation.
He also questioned why only India is being criticized while European countries continue to import gas from Russia.
India bought only 12 million barrels of oil from Russia in 2021 whereas this year it has so far purchased 60 million barrels.
Some media reports published earlier this month suggest that India is looking to double its oil imports from Russia as state-owned refiners - Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum - are eager to take more heavily discounted supplies from Russia's PJSC Rosneft.
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