Advice to Others, But Humiliation to Himself

It’s well known how the US and Western countries react when India increases its dependence on Russian crude oil and gas. The US, in particular, is particularly irritated by this. India already pays a 25 percent tariff on its oil purchases from Russia. The threat is that if India continues to purchase from Russia, the tariff will be increased to 100 percent. It’s surprising to note that the United States and the European Union are major customers of Russian oil and gas. Recently, Europe was forced to decide to purchase oil and gas from Russia because inflation in their own gas and electricity resources had spiraled out of control. To counter this, purchasing Russian oil and gas is considered necessary or even a compulsion. Europe, which has threatened India with sanctions, has increased its LNG purchases from Russia by 11 percent and gas purchases by 7 percent from January 2009 to May 2026. Sanctions for others but increased purchases by itself. The reason is also that it is more expensive for America and European countries to import gas from the Gulf or other countries as compared to Russia. The Iran war has created a crisis of energy supply from there as well. However, Europe clarifies that it has old and permanent agreements with Russia. European oil companies have an agreement to purchase 32 billion cubic meters of LNG annually from Russia. Similarly, countries far from the sea like Hungary and Slovakia have been given exemption to import oil and gas from Russia. The new news is that now America is also making agreements to buy diesel from Russia. Look at the figures of Europe, from May to January 2026, in comparison to 2025, among the European countries, France bought 3.80 billion cubic meters of LNG from Russia as compared to 3.89 billion cubic meters, that is, a little less, but Belgium increased its purchase from 2.05 to 2.69 billion cubic meters, Spain increased its purchase from 1.96 to 2.46 billion cubic meters and Netherlands increased its purchase from 0.86 to 0.96 billion cubic meters of LNG. Isn’t it a double standard that sanctions have been imposed on Indian refineries, yet Europe itself purchased oil and gas worth ₹2.03 trillion from Russia in the first nine months of 2026? Europe has purchased oil, gas, and other fuels worth ₹30.56 trillion from Russia in the past four years. What can we say about this double-faced policy of the US and the European Union? In our opinion, the adage “advising others while facing embarrassment themselves” is true for the US and Europe.