US, India hold talks on Russian energy price caps: Sullivan
WASHINGTON: The US has begun discussions with India on the modalities and implications of a price cap on Russian energy imports, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday.
At their summit meeting in Germany this week, G7 leaders floated the idea of imposing price caps on Russian energy imports and instructed their concerned ministers to work out the details.
The move is a part of the West’s effort to meet dual objectives: deprive Russia of revenue from energy exports - seen as a key source of its war financing efforts in Ukraine, while ensuring that the global energy market stabilises, given the inflationary pressures caused by galloping energy prices across the world.
When asked if President Joe Biden had spoken to PM Narendra Modi about the issue — both leaders were at the G7 meet and while they did not have a formal bilateral exchange, they interacted informally — Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One, as the president made his way to Spain for a Nato summit, that the task of determining how a price cap will work requires intense engagement with consuming countries.
“India is one of those countries... We have begun talks with India about how a price cap would work and what the implications of it would be. And I will leave it at that because, of course, those are ongoing diplomatic discussions,” he said.
Pressed again on whether Biden and Modi had spoken about the issue, the NSA said they had not but referred to engagements at other levels.
“The President did not speak with Prime Minister Modi about this yesterday, but at senior levels of the US government, we had communications with the Indians yesterday. Before it goes to leader-to-leader level, we need to work through the details with their team at basically the Cabinet level, which is where it is right now. And then, if necessary, it can be elevated.”
The latest rounds of India-US conversations on Russia and energy are happening even as Washington is concerned about India’s acceleration of Russian imports.