The US and its western allies, who have on several occasions tried to shame India over its crude purchases from Moscow, should take a moment to reflect on what they have been saying after looking at their energy imports.
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A report by news agency Financial Times revealed that since the onset of the war in Ukraine, despite sanctions Russian energy companies have exported $68bn worth of fossil fuels via ship and pipelines with most of them headed towards nations under the European Union.
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Citing data from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA), the news agency said that Germany, Italy and China were among those who imported the bulk of what energy Russia is exporting. The data also revealed that the US also increased its imports of Russian energy and its quantity is higher than that of India.
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During foreign minister S Jaishankar’s visit to the United States, the foreign minister told the press that the amount of gas imported by India is lower than what EU purchases in an afternoon.
Despite India’s pushback to criticism, it continued to face attacks from western press as well as its lawmakers for not denouncing Russia by completely stopping energy imports. Jaishankar held a mirror to the detractors but the data released by the news agency and the research centre mentioned above puts the spotlight back on the EU.
According to CREA, the EU imported 71% of the Russian fossil fuel exports since the start of the invasion.
Oil companies like Total and Shell said that they would halt purchases by the end of 2022 but given the European dependence on Russian energy it is unlikely that the companies will be able to meet the deadline.
Meanwhile, some energy companies are yet to shift away from Russian fossil fuels. More than ten companies opened accounts at Russia-owned Gazprombank to meet Russia’s payment demands, a person familiar with developments told news agency Bloomberg.
More than four energy giants have already made payments in rubles to Russian energy companies despite the sanctions. These actions show that European nations are not practising what they preach to India and others regarding Russian sanctions.
(with inputs from Financial Times and Bloomberg)
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