India's Ministry of External Affairs has responded to US President Donald Trump's claim that India will not buy crude oil from Russia. The ministry said India's energy import policy is focused on protecting the interests of consumers, with the primary goal of ensuring stable energy prices and supply security.

New Delhi: India's Ministry of External Affairs has responded to US President Donald Trump's claim that India will not buy crude oil from Russia. The Ministry said that India's energy import policy is focused on protecting the interests of consumers, with the main goal of ensuring stable energy prices and supply security. The Ministry of External Affairs also clarified that talks are ongoing with the US on energy cooperation.

Responding to Trump's claim on Thursday, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said that India is major oil and gas importing country and protecting the country's interests in the volatile global energy market is the top priority of the government.

Energy policy is focused on two main goals

Jaiswal said, "Our energy policy has two key objectives: maintaining stable energy prices and ensuring security of supply. To this end, India is diversifying its energy sources and tailoring import policies to market conditions."

Negotiations continue with the US on oil purchases

On the issue of energy cooperation with the United States, he said that India has steadily increased its energy purchases from the United States over the past decade, and the current US administration has expressed interest in expanding partnerships in this area. He said that discussions on energy cooperation between the two countries are ongoing.

What was Trump's claim?

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has told him that India will no longer buy oil from Russia. Speaking to reporters during an event at the White House, Trump said, "I was not happy that India was buying oil and today they assured me that they will not buy oil from Russia."

Trump described this as a major step in the effort to economically isolate Russia and said that now we are going to make China do the same.

PC:NBT