Washington: Days after New Delhi strongly objected to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) secretary general Mark Rutte’s warning of possible secondary sanctions against India, China and Brazil for buying Russian oil, a senior American politician issued an open threat to the three countries.
Senior Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, a close aide of President Donald Trump, said on live TV that if countries don’t stop buying oil from Russia, they will face 100 per cent tariff on oil-related imports. He threatened that India, China and Brazil will be crushed over maintaining trade ties with Russia.
Graham highlighted that these three countries account for nearly 80 per cent of Russia’s crude oil exports, arguing that their purchases are helping bankroll Vladimir Putin’s three-and-a-half-year war in Ukraine.
“Trump is going to impose tariffs on people that buy Russian oil – China, India, and Brazil… Here’s what I would tell China, India and Brazil: If you keep buying cheap Russian oil to allow this war to continue, we’re going to tear up the hell out of you, and we’re going to crush your economy,” Graham said during an interview with Fox News.
The 70-year-old lawmaker had earlier proposed a bill to impose 500 per cent tariffs on goods from countries continuing to trade with Russia, including India and China.
In a message to Russian President Putin, Graham said, “You have played President Trump at your own peril. You made a major league mistake, and your economy is going to continue to be crushed. We’re flowing weapons to Ukraine, so Ukraine will have the weapons to fight Putin back.”
Graham accused Putin of trying to revive the Soviet Union by invading sovereign nations.
“Putin wants to take countries that are not his. In the mid-90s, Ukraine gave up 1,700 nuclear weapons with a promise that their sovereignty would be respected by Russia. Putin broke that promise.”
India’s stance has always been to take a call that best suits the interests of its people. Most recently, when Nato secretary general Mark Rutte’s warned of possible secondary sanctions against countries buying Russian oil,
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said last week, in response to NATO chief Rutte’s waring of possible secondary sanctions against countries buying Russian oil, that energy needs are India’s priority.
“We have seen reports on the subject and are closely following the developments. Let me reiterate, and I have said this in the past as well, securing the energy needs of our people is understandably an overriding priority for us,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
“In this endeavour, we are guided by what is there on offer in the markets, as also by prevailing global circumstances. We would particularly caution against any double standards on the matter,” he added.