The writer is a former policy adviser at the Indian Ministry of External Affairs
After a quarter-century of warming ties accompanied by assiduous, bipartisan nurturing by governments in both countries, relations between India and the US have hit a diplomatic air pocket. India’s oil purchases from Russia are at the heart of the turbulence. The administration of Donald Trump has claimed these purchases are funding Vladimir Putin’s war machine. Consider the facts.
India was a marginal buyer of Russian oil until the Ukraine war upended energy markets. At that stage, it was out-priced by Europe in its traditional Gulf sources. Like other energy-importing countries, it found oil and gas spot markets and contracts skewed by the entry of high-income European nations as buyers. India therefore had little choice but to turn to the only large available option: Russia.