India's cut in Russian oil imports can only be for very brief period: Kremlin spokesman

New Delhi, Dec 2 Russia expects to boost its oil exports to India again and views the current decline that has taken place due to Western sanctions as a very temporary phase, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

"There can be, for a very brief period of time, insignificant decreases in the volume of oil trade," Peskov told Indian journalists via a video link organised here by Russia's Sputnik news agency.

In the virtual press conference ahead of President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India, he said Russia continues to supply energy to India at competitive prices, calling it a "mutual benefit".

Referring to the sanctions announced by the US and Europe as illegal, Peskov said: "We do not accept all these limitations, and we are doing our best to ensure that we continue our trade and ensure a guaranteed supply of oil and oil products. We are managing that quite successfully.”

"We’re looking forward to possibilities despite everything to ensure our right to sell oil and to ensure the right of those who want to purchase oil to ensure the right to buy our oil. We are working on creating a necessary environment for ensuring these rights," he added.

Peskov said that trade between Russia and India should be secured from the pressure of third countries, and payment methods would feature in the talks between the leaders of the two countries.

India had become the top buyer of Russia’s seaborne oil in the wake of the Ukraine war, but has recently cut crude imports due to US sanctions on leading Russian producers Rosneft and Lukoil. Following this, Europe has also announced sanctions against the purchase of petroleum products distilled from Russian crude.

Reliance Industries announced in October that it will comply with the EU guidelines on the import of refined products into Europe, linked to the fresh sanctions that have been imposed on Russia’s crude oil exports.

The company also said that “whenever there is any guidance from the Indian Government in this respect, as always, we will be complying fully.”

Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp have also stopped buying Russian oil, while Indian Oil Corporation has placed orders to buy Russian oil from non-sanctioned entities.

In the 2023–24, the bilateral trade between India–Russia was valued at $65.70 billion, comprising $4.26 billion in Indian exports and $61.44 billion in imports.

Addressing the trade imbalance between the two countries, Peskov said that Russia expects to increase imports from India.

"There is a real imbalance in our trade. We are aware of this. We sell much more to India than we buy. We know that our Indian friends are concerned about this. Incidentally, we are jointly exploring opportunities to increase imports from India to Russia. We want to buy more from India," he observed.

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