Moscow, Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar, who visited Russia, has defended the oil business of both the countries. Jaishankar on Tuesday made it clear that it is New Delhi's "fundamental responsibility" to ensure that Indian consumers get the best deals on the 'most advantageous' terms in international crude oil markets. The Indian Foreign Minister said in the presence of Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov that buying oil from Moscow is "beneficial" for India and he would like to continue.

In fact, India has increased imports of subsidized crude oil from Russia in the last few months, despite the growing uneasiness over it by many Western powers. In such a situation, Jaishankar, who was addressing a joint press conference in Moscow, was asked about India's increasing oil imports amid anger from Western countries. To this he said, 'In this regard, quite honestly, we have seen that India-Russia relations have worked to our advantage. So if it works to my advantage, I would like to continue with it.

Along with this, he said, 'With regard to the issue of oil supply, first of all there is tension on the energy markets. This is such a stress, behind which many factors are responsible. But today as the world's third largest oil and gas consumer, a consumer where income levels are not very high, it is our fundamental responsibility to ensure that the Indian consumer has the best possible access to international markets at the most remunerative terms.

Russia becomes India's top oil supplier
Let us tell you that Russia has become India's top oil supplier in October, beating traditional vendors like Saudi Arabia and Iraq. During October, Russia supplied 935,556 barrels per day (bpd) of crude oil to India. This is the highest ever supply of crude oil to India by him.

Explain that during the last financial year, Russian oil accounted for only 0.2 percent of all the oil imported by India. This has now increased to 22 percent of India's total crude oil imports, which is higher than Iraq's 20.5 percent and Saudi Arabia's 16 percent.

India imported only 36,255 barrels of crude oil per day from Russia in December 2021, compared to 10.5 lakh barrels per day from Iraq and 952,625 barrels per day from Saudi Arabia.