India's Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said last Friday that her country has bought and will continue to buy oil from Russian Federation despite international sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine.

"If there is fuel available and available at a discount, why shouldn't we buy it? I need it for mine, so we have already bought it," the minister replied, during a business event, after being asked about the advisability of doing these operations now.

"We have already started buying, we have received a considerable amount of barrels (of oil), I would say it is supplies for three or four days. I will put our national interest first, as will our energy security," Sitharaman added.

The statement coincided with a visit to the Indian capital by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who met with representatives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government to strengthen its alliance with India.

After a working meeting, Lavrov assured that if India wants to buy "any goods" from Russia, Moscow is willing to discuss and reach "mutually acceptable forms of cooperation."

India has asked in recent days not to politicize the possible purchase of oil from Russian Federation despite international sanctions, as New Delhi "must continue to focus on competing energy sources" because, unlike other states, it needs to import 85% of the oil they consume.

According to the Indian government, almost 85% of its oil requirements (five million barrels per day) must be imported, although so far "the Russian Federation has been a marginal supplier," with no bilateral cooperation agreements in place, by covering only an 1% of its requirements.

Now, most of India's imports come from Iraq (23%), Saudi Arabia (18%), United Arab Emirates (11%) and the US (7.3%), a percentage it expects to increase this year to 11%.

So far, India has expressed a neutral position

Source: Lusa