New Delhi: Germany does not wish to “preach” India into cutting back Russian oil imports, the country’s ambassador to New Delhi Walter J Lindner said in an interview with NDTV.
He said that anyone who can reach out to Russian President Vladimir Putin can help bring the war in Ukraine to an end.
“There is no denying that many countries in Europe are dependent on Russian oil and coal. We didn’t know that Putin will one day attack a neighboring country. We are already reducing the imports massively. We want to reduce the dependency on oil to 0 percent by the end of this year,” the report quoted him as saying.
Asked about India buying Russian oil during the war, Lindner, according to NDTV, said, “Every country has its own past, its own dependencies. There’s no preaching here. We have sanctions and if that can be used to stop the war, we will use that.”
Shrugging off growing global pressure to distance itself from the Kremlin, Finance Minister of India Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday had said that India will continue buying cheap Russian oil in the nation’s interest and said energy security came first.
“We have started buying, we have received quite a number of barrels — I would think three-four days supply and this will continue,” Sitharaman said at an event organised by CNBC-TV18 channel.
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