Starmer raises issue of India buying Russian oil on trade trip to Mumbai

Keir Starmer yesterday said he had directly raised the issue of India buying Russian oil when he met Narendra Modi in Mumbai.

- Jessica Elgot Mumbai

Speaking at the end of a two-day trade visit, Starmer said the two prime ministers had discussed the issue and the war in Ukraine.

“For prime minister Modi and myself the focus was on ending this conflict,” he said. “And that was a wide-ranging discussion, but we did set out the steps that we are taking in relation to energy.”

Modi has described himself as a friend of Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, and his country is continuing to buy Russian oil despite its being subject to western sanctions.

Starmer said he had raised a number of difficult topics with his Indian opposite number on human rights and relations with Moscow. However, he appeared to have made little headway in their meeting at Raj Bhavan, a state residence in Mumbai.

Starmer, who was welcomed by thousands of posters of himself along the main streets and motorways of Mumbai, appeared on stage at a conference with Modi, who addressed him as his friend.

In his end-of-visit remarks, Starmer said the Gaza ceasefire deal would not have happened without Donald Trump’s leadership but he stopped short of endorsing the US president for a Nobel peace prize.

The prime minister said the first phase of the agreement would be a “relief to the world” and the UK had played a role behind the scenes.