“Cheap Russian crude oil is wanted, just like India, but…”: Imran Khan

Islamabad:

Former Pakistani Prime Minister and Chairman of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Imran Khan once again praised India’s foreign policy and said that Islamabad “wanted to have cheap Russian crude oil just like India” but was not able to do so with the collapse of his government. in the movement of distrust.

Addressing the nation in a video message, he said, “We wanted to get cheap Russian crude oil just like India, but unfortunately that didn’t happen. My government fell because of the motion of no confidence.”

Notably, he was the first Pakistani prime minister to visit Moscow in the past 23 years, and Khan could not broker any deal that could bring relief to the cash-strapped country.

Pakistan is experiencing its worst ever economic crisis and Khan lamented the fact that his country can also buy Russian crude oil at a discount that India is enjoying despite the ongoing Ukraine war.

It is also important to remember that he was in Russia the day the conflict began last year. In the clip, he spoke about his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Interestingly, this was not the first time that Khan recognized India’s achievements in terms of developing its economy and buying Russian oil despite Western pressure.

“No other leader in the world except Nawaz owns real estate worth billions of dollars. Tell me about a country whose president or leader owns real estate worth billions of dollars outside the country. Even in our neighboring country, how many properties does Prime Minister Modi have outside India?” he said at a public gathering in September 2022.

Earlier in May 2022, Khan had praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to buy cheap oil from Russia despite pressure from the United States.

“Despite being part of the Quartet, India has resisted US pressure and bought cheap oil from Russia to facilitate its people’s affairs,” Imran wrote on Twitter, adding that “our government has been trying to achieve this through an independent foreign policy.”

India is the third largest oil consumer and importer in the world. It imports 85 percent of its crude oil needs. Since the war between Russia and Ukraine, the West and Europe have severely sanctioned its capacity. This led to Russia offering more discounts to its oldest ally, India.

The sanctions forced Russia to sign an agreement with an Indian oil giant aimed at boosting crude oil supplies. Russian news agency TASS reported that Russian oil major Rosneft has signed a deal with the Indian Oil Corporation to increase oil supplies to India.

Meanwhile, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Petroleum Mossadegh Malik claimed in April 2023 that the first shipment of cheap oil from Russia would arrive in Pakistan next month, as reported by Geo News.

And the Minister of State said, during an interview with a private news channel, that Islamabad had finalized the deal with Moscow, adding that “the first shipment will arrive next month via consignment.”

The agreement, which has been in the works for months, could ease some of Pakistan’s financial woes as the country, a net energy importer, looks for ways to lower its oil import bill.

Malik said the government has already made progress in this regard, and hopes to issue separate bills for the underprivileged and the elite class, as reported by Geo News.

Last month, sources told The News that the petroleum division was trying to buy Russian crude oil for about $50 a barrel, at least $10 a barrel below the price cap imposed by G7 nations for the precious commodity being taken from Russia due to for its war on Ukraine.

The officials, involved in the virtual talks with Russia, reported that Moscow was more interested in completing all basic requirements such as payment method, freight cost with premium, and insurance cost before signing the agreement with Pakistan, Geo News reported.

Talks have been going on between Pakistan and Russia since last year over oil trade, which has been a divisive issue in Pakistani politics.

Former Prime Minister Imran Khan had repeatedly claimed that his government was overthrown for pursuing an “independent foreign policy”, which would have allowed the country to buy oil at a discount from Russia, just like India.

(Except for the headline, this story was not edited by the NDTV staff and was published from a syndicated feed.)