'Not just the US but the whole world wanted...': US Ambassador Eric Garcetti on Indian purchase of Russian oil

US Ambassador to India Eric Garcetti emphasised that Washington wanted India to buy Russian oil at discounted prices to contain the rise in the price of an essential commodity and curtail Russia’s funding in the context light of its war in Ukraine. 

Speaking in an interview with CNN-News18, the US Ambassador said “we recognised that oil was a necessity for all economies” while answering a question on his somewhat suggestive indication that the US wanted India to continue to buy Russian oil.  

"No, I would very positively emphasise again that this is something not just the US but that the world community said amid this aggressive, unprovoked war against another nation violating international borders that we recognised that oil was a necessity for all economies and all people and it wasn't just India but that all countries should try to buy at a lesser price so that the Russian nation wouldn't be able to pour even more money into a war against the Ukrainian people,” Garcetti said.  

The US Ambassador also dismissed that his statement contradicts what the US State Department and the White House are saying. “I would just respectfully disagree that these are views of officials. I've heard commentators say that, but this has been the consistent policy of the US government with India and all nations that this oil can be purchased so that we can keep the price of oil affordable for all of our economies.” 

Garcetti said that the official stand is that the profits should be lessened from these purchases “which we have successfully been able to do thanks to India and other nations, who have adhered to this.” 

Earlier this month, Garcetti admitted that India bought Russian oil because the US wanted somebody to buy Russian oil. "The US allowed the purchase to take place to ensure the prices did not go up globally," he had said. Garcetti was speaking at the Conference on Diversity in International Affairs organised by the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington. 

Answering a query on India and Iran signing a developmental partnership deal for Chabahar Port and a US State Department spokesperson saying that it risks potential sanction for entities, who will be working on this port development, Garcetti said that some clarifications will come out soon. 

“I think that we all know that the force that we see certainly in the Middle East of Iran and proxy wars of exporting terrorism should be disturbing to all and any countries. India is a friend. We’ve looked at things on a case-by-case basis but in general, our system of sanctions against folks that are working with Iran, which is exporting terrorism, is something we take very seriously. So, that will be something that we'll have to look at further and I think that you'll see clarifications in the future  

Garcetti also dismissed any possibility of creeping rifts between the US and India relationship in the light of US President Joe Biden giving the Republic Day celebrations in India a miss due to a “tight political calendar" and the QUAD multilateral meeting not taking place. 

“We love India, we love the QUAD, and it's only getting stronger every single day. It doesn’t depend by the way on any two leaders though. I think in both countries we have elections this year plus a war in the Middle East, which requires a lot of attention from the United States President but we're very confident that we'll have a great QUAD meeting. We look forward to India’s leadership and doing that later in the year,” he said.