India keeps on buying Russian oil, S Jaishankar believes its 'economically advantageous'

Jaishankar visited Russia for the first time since the Kremlin's invasion of Ukraine, which was deemed by the Russian President Vladimir Putin as a "special military operation."

The Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov met with his Indian counterpart alongside senior Russian officials who preside over petroleum & natural gas, agriculture, and finance among other pertinent sectors.

In a jointly held news conference, Jaishankar said, "Russia has been a steady and time-tested partner. Any objective evaluation of our relationship over many decades would confirm that it has actually served both our countries very, very well."

In September, India's Russian oil imports rose by 18.5 percent compared to August, making Russia the largest supplier of crude oil to the former after the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

“As the world’s third-largest consumer of oil and gas, a consumer where the levels of income are not very high, it is our fundamental obligation to ensure that the Indian consumer has the best possible access on the most advantageous terms to international markets,” he said.

“We have seen that the India-Russia relationship has worked to advantage. If it works to my advantage, I would like to keep that going,” he added.

The fifth largest economy in the world which has so far maintained USD as its payment currency for purchasing Russian oil hasn't yet joined the call for sanctions against the latter as implemented by the West.

Sergei Lavrov has applauded India's stance on Ukraine while blaming the Western nations for attempting to cement "a dominant role in world affairs," as per media reports.

On talks of collaboration, India and Russia are thinking on the lines of joint production of modern defence apparatus, Lavrov was quoted as saying by TASS news agency.

As per the Russian Foreign Minister, both the countries want to work together in the space travel and nuclear energy sectors, according to media reports.