Russia has reportedly offered India a discounted price of $35 per barrel on crude oil imports made from Russia. The offered discount is on the pre-war price of flagship Urals grade oil. This might seem like a mouth-watering offer for India, at a time when its domestic fuel prices – much like in the rest of the world – are soaring high and adding to inflationary troubles in an already struggling economy.
Last week alone, India bought 3 million barrels of Russian crude at a steep discount, underscoring the potential for a currency deal between the two nations. India isn’t alone in buying ‘cheaper’ Russian oil. European Union (EU_ nations are doing it as well. Last month, the EU imported more from Russia than it did in the month before that. Despite this, India’s ability to take ‘independent’ decisions, guided by its foreign policy position of maintaining ‘strategic autonomy’, may need to go beyond what the EU or other nations do vis-à-vis Russia.