NEW DELHI: In a bid by the Biden administration to ensure that US sanctions on Russia are being implemented and to wean India off its oil imports from there, Elizabeth Rosenberg, Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes at the US Department of Treasury, will travel to Delhi and Mumbai.
"Assistant Secretary Rosenberg is travelling to New Delhi and Mumbai as part of a continued Treasury effort to engage with partners and allies around the implementation and enforcement of the unprecedented multilateral sanctions and export controls on Russia for its war on Ukraine," a US Embassy spokesperson in New Delhi told The New Indian Express.
India imports less than 1 per cent of its crude requirement from Russia, contrary to some countries in the EU which have upped their imports.
"Amid the continuing conflict in Ukraine, India is trying to secure its own interests as all European nations are," said Union Minister of Commerce Piyush Goyal at the World Economic Forum in Davos recently.
EU countries are importing larger quantities of petroleum products from Russia.
Italy, for instance, has increased its imports from Russia. Russia has exported 450,000 barrels of crude per day to Italy this month – which is more than four times the volume in February and the highest ever since 2013. Italy is slated to overtake the Netherlands as the EU’s largest import hub for seaborne Russian crude.
"In the current situation, when inflation is at an all-time high, causing stress to people all over the world, EU and European countries continue to buy larger quantities than India ever thought of buying," Goyal added.
According to sources, Secretary Rosenberg is expected to meet government officials and also members of the petroleum industry in the public and private sector. Her visit is also being seen as a move by the Biden administration to reach out to partners and allies across the world apprising them about the need to implement US sanctions and export controls.