India won’t support Russian oil price cap – expert

The proposed mechanism is motivated by sanctions, and India does not side with them, Nandan Unnikrishnan says

India will reject the plan by the Group of Seven countries (the US, Canada, Germany, France, Italy, the UK, and Japan) to impose a price ceiling on Russian oil, political scientist Nandan Unnikrishnan said on Friday.

“India, in my opinion, will not join this even though [the price cap] would lower the price [of oil] and meet the economic challenges that India is facing. India will not join this decision because the decision is motivated by the sanctions regime against Russia. And India is not joining these sanctions,” Unnikrishnan told the RIA news agency.

On Friday, the G7 finance ministers said they planned to ban maritime services transporting Russian oil if its price was not approved by their “international partners,” effectively announcing the introduction of the price cap mechanism. The actual price cap has not yet been revealed, but last month reports emerged that there were proposals to set the ceiling at half the current market price. According to Bloomberg, figures of $40 to $60 per barrel were being discussed.

According to Unnikrishnan, if the price cap is introduced, “India will have to weigh very carefully its relations with many great powers, all the pros and cons to calculate carefully.” At the same time, he noted that New Delhi should hardly fear any secondary sanctions for buying oil from Russia due to its economic ties to many Western allies in the Indo-Pacific region.

READ MORE: G7 unveils plan to enforce Russian oil price cap

Russia has warned that it will embargo countries that support the price cap and threatened to stop crude production if it becomes unprofitable.

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