US told us to stabilise mkt, buy Russian oil: Jaishankar

Perplexed at logic of (US) argument: EAM in Moscow

- SHUBHAJIT ROY

TAKING A SWIPE at the Trump administration from Moscow, external affairs minister S Jaishankar said on Thursday he was "very perplexed" by the additional 25% US tariff on India over energy imports from Russia because "it was the Americans" who said "we should do everything to stabilise the world's energy markets, including buying oil from Russia".

Seated next to Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, where he later met President Vladimir Putin, Jaishankar said, "We are not the biggest purchasers of Russian oil.

"That is China. We are not the biggest purchasers of Russian LNG, I am not sure, but I think that is the European Union. We are not the country which has the biggest trade surge with Russia after 2022, I think there are some countries to the south."