NEW DELHI, July 17 : India today rubbished NATO chief Mark Rutte’s threat of “severe secondary sanctions” on countries trading with Russia and cautioned against any “double standards.”
External Affairs Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said India’s overriding priority is to secure energy needs guided by what is available in the markets and the prevailing global circumstances.
”We would particularly caution against any double standards on the matter,’ he said.
“We have seen reports on the subject and are closely following the developments. Let me reiterate, and I have said this in the past as well that securing energy needs of our people is understandably an overriding priority for us. In this endeavor, we are guided by what is on offer in the markets, and by the prevailing global circumstances,” the spokesman said in reply to a question.
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte had said yesterday that countries like Brazil, China and India could face severe secondary sanctions if they continue economic ties with Russia
”My encouragement to these three countries, particularly is, if you live now in Beijing, or in Delhi, or you are the president of Brazil, you might want to take a look into this, because this might hit you very hard So please make the phone call to Vladimir Putin and tell him that he has to get serious about peace talks because otherwise this will slam back on Brazil, on India and on China in a massive way,” Rutte said.
(UNI)
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