The issue of countries across the world buying Russian oil found an echo as European leaders and lawmakers gathered in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Tuesday to mark the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion, with former UK premier Boris Johnson backing US President Donald Trump’s move to get India to stop buying Russian hydrocarbons.
Much of the discussion at the special meeting of the Yalta European Strategy focused on what Europe can do to increase pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin for a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine, with proposals ranging from steps by individual European countries such as Britain and France to hand over frozen Russian assets to Ukraine, in order to get around divisions within the European Union (EU), and the so-called “Danish model” of investing in Ukraine’s defence industry to ramp up the manufacturing of weapons.
Johnson, who was speaking in a session with the theme ‘Who can make Russia negotiate seriously’, brought up the subject of EU member states such as Hungary and Slovenia and other nations around the world continuing to buy Russian energy. While noting that 12% of Europe’s oil and gas still comes from Russia – contributing billions of dollars to Putin – Johnson praised Trump for acting to stop Russian oil imports in the context of Europe’s skepticism about the US President’s actions.
“Trump is doing something to stop India buying Russian hydrocarbons. Europe and Britain are not doing enough,” Johnson said.
American officials, including Trump, have contended that India has made a commitment regarding Russian oil purchases as part of an interim trade deal that the two sides are currently finalising. The Indian side has neither confirmed nor denied that it will stop Russian oil imports and the external affairs ministry has only said that New Delhi will maintain multiple sources of energy, with national interest guiding all purchases.
An understanding between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trump led to the US administration cutting overall tariffs on Indian goods from 50%, including a 25% punitive levy over Russian oil purchases, to 18%. India’s imports of Russian oil have fallen while purchases of US energy have increased. Russian crude shipments in January made up the smallest part of India’s imports since late 2022. India, the world’s third largest oil importer, ramped up purchases of discounted Russian oil after the West imposed sanctions over the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, with volumes topping two million barrels a day in some months.
India has maintained that dialogue and diplomacy is the way forward in ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict, and New Delhi has not censured Moscow for the invasion. During meetings with Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Modi has insisted that a solution won’t be found on the battlefield and talks can’t succeed under the shadow of the gun.
With EU member state Hungary vetoing additional sanctions on Russia and a crucial €90-billion loan for Ukraine on the eve of the war’s fourth anniversary on Monday, discussions at the conference centred round the steps Europe can take to strengthen Ukraine’s hands. Lithuania’s former PM Ingrida Simonyte was among those who backed a more robust approach to supporting Ukraine militarily and opposed further concessions to Russia, noting that Putin’s “red lines are portable and light”.
Denmark’s deputy prime minister and defence minister Troels Lund Poulsen pointed to his country’s transfer of 19 F-16s to Ukraine and called on European countries to “do more and faster” by supporting Ukraine’s defence industries. In this context, he referred to the “Danish model” of investing in Ukrainian companies to build weapons systems. Denmark plans to invest almost €1.4 billion directly in Ukrainian defence companies, and Ukraine’s Fire Point is setting up a solid rocket fuel production facility in Denmark to support its FP-5 cruise missile.
(The author is in Kyiv at the invitation of Yalta European Strategy.)