Reiterating Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s “not an era of war,” Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Hardeep Singh Puri, said that all peaceloving countries would rally around to PM Modi’s call for diplomacy, peace and not war.
He noted that India, through its G20 Presidency and other statements made by PM Modi or other senior officials, has been pushing in the direction of taking conflict zones into a situation of secession of hostilities and finding a resolution to those conflicts.
On being asked about PM Modi and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s visit to Russia and how US sees India’s role in the ongoing conflict, Puri said, “I would like to think that all peace loving countries would finally rally around to the Prime Minister’s call that this is a time for diplomacy, this is a time for peace, not for time for war. wars cannot be continued on an indefinite list. I’m not going into the causation factor who’s right or who’s wrong. You could argue that you know there was a Minsk agreement that was not followed or something else happened. Today, the devastation that wars cause anywhere in the world, whether it’s conflicts in nearer home in the Middle East or elsewhere, they have to be brought to the drawing board to the negotiating table.”
“So, I think the point the Prime Minister of India has made consistently, he said that in a speech to the GA (General Assembly) some years ago, it’s a point he has reiterated, it’s a point he has had a discussion and I’m very happy to find that all these signals I’ve seen have been that a country like India can help have come from both the sides. And that is what I think deserves to be. I won’t go into the individual thing. If the foreign minister, External Affairs Minister comes here, I want you to be able to talk to him in greater detail, but not just in energy for everything else. Today, we need to be able to move forward on the processes of peace. And India, both through its G20 presidency, as indeed through other statements that the Prime Minister has made or other senior government functionaries have made, has been pushing in the direction of taking conflict zones into a situation of secession of hostilities and then finding a resolution to those conflicts.”
Earlier this July, PM Modi visited Russia and held talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin. It was PM Modi’s first visit to Russia since the war started between Moscow and Kyiv in 2022.
Recently, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval visited Russia to attend the BRICS National Security Advisers’ meeting. During his visit, he held meetings with Russian leadership, including Vladimir Putin, Sergey Shoigu.
Hardeep Singh Puri has dismissed reports that India has been facing pressure from the US over its cooperation with Russia. He also said that Europe continues to buy more energy from Russia than India.
“I’ve had the privilege of being associated with this ministry now for three years. I’m not aware of any point in my three years here where anyone has even made that suggestion. Let me put the arithmetic to you in a simple way. Russia before the events of February 2022 produced 13 million barrels of crude in a day. Just imagine a situation, forget about who buys it and who sells it. If that 13 million barrels had gone out of the equation of 102 million barrels which was being produced, that 13 million barrels would have to be accessed from somewhere else, in which case the prices would have shot up to USD 120, USD 130 a barrel per day,.” he said.
“In fact, today also, Europe buys more oil and more energy from Russia than we do in India. Also, we have a situation where I think it’s in everybody’s interest that at least the stability and the predictability of the scenario helps the market. So, the answer is no. At no stage has anybody said it, but people continue to buy it themselves. For instance, gas which goes in a crude and energy which goes in a pipeline from Russia to Hungary was exempt from the price cut. What goes in a pipeline from Russia to Japan was exempt. What the suggestion that was made was that there should be a price cap on which purchases should be made from the Russian Federation. That price cap is there, but by the way, oil prices, some like me will applaud that have actually come down. My latest look at oil prices was about USD 72 a barrel. A few days ago, in fact, I was quite surprised it had even crossed the 70 and was below the USD 70 mark,” he added.
Notably, Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a conflict since February 2022. India has called for resolving the conflict between Russia and Ukraine through dialogue and diplomacy. However, India has continued to purchase Russian oil.
During his meeting with Putin on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Samarkand in September 2022, PM Modi said, “today’s era isn’t of war” while emphasising the need to find ways to address the problems of food, fuel security and fertilizers.
Following his visit to Russia, PM Modi traveled to Ukraine in August, first by an Indian PM to the European nation. During the bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, PM Modi emphasised India’s position of peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.
During PM Modi’s visit, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed confidence that India had a role to bring peace to the conflict ridden region.
