Washington

The United States believes that it's not in India's interest to increase Russian energy imports and other commodities, said White House Press secretary Jen Psaki on Monday as Washington continues to mount pressure on countries around the world to shun cheaper Russian oil.

Responding to a question on India's import of Russian oil, Psaki said the US expects every country around the world should abide by the sanctions that we announced on Russia. "Energy payments are not sanctioned. That's a decision made by each individual country, and we've been very clear that each country is going to make their own choices even as we have made the decision and other countries have made the decision to ban energy imports," Psaki said at a press briefing.

This comes a few days after US Deputy National Security Advisor (NSA) for International Economics Daleep Singh, paid a two-day visit to India from March 30-31. During his visit, US Deputy NSA had consulted with Indian counterparts on the goals and mechanisms of US sanctions imposed on Russia. Speaking on Daleep Singh's recent visit to India, Psaki said that Deputy NSA conveyed a message that it is not in India's interest to accelerate or increase imports of Russian energy and other commodities. "What Daleep did make clear to his counterparts during this visit, was that we don't believe it's in India's interest to accelerate or increase imports of Russian energy and other commodities," she said.

White House Press secretary also noted that India's imports of Russian energy represent only 1 per cent to 2 per cent of their total energy imports. "So while he explained both the mechanisms for sanctions and reiterated that any country or entity should be abiding by those. We also made clear that we'd be happy to be a partner in reducing their reliance or even their small percentage of reliance on that," she said.

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India has defended its right to secure better deals for its energy needs. New Delhi has pointed out Europe's growing purchases of petroleum products from Moscow despite the Ukraine war. Last week, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had said the European countries remain the biggest buyers of oil and gas from Russia. He even slammed a "campaign" against India for buying Russian oil at discounts.