External Affairs Minister Jaishankar hits out at ‘unilateral’ sanctions days before expiry of U.S.’ Russian oil waiver

As India awaits the United States’ decision on extending its waiver on sanctions against the import of Russian oil, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on Thursday (May 14, 2026) hit out at unilateral non-United Nations’ sanctions, calling them unjustified. Delivering the national statement at the BRICS Foreign Ministers meeting chaired by India, Mr. Jaishankar called on the grouping of emerging economies to address the problem of such sanctions.

Significantly, the meeting was attended by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi representing two of the U.S.’s most heavily sanctioned countries.

With the latest waiver in place, import of Russian crude oil surged to 1.96 million barrels per day since the start of May till date compared to 1.57 million barrels per day during the full month in April, according to data from real-time maritime analytics provider Kpler. The surge of oil intake from Moscow in May are indicative of Indian refiners rushing to secure stable supplies from Russia as those from West Asia find themselves mired in tensions.

In fact, India’s import of Russian oil stood at 1.98 million barrels per day in March. This coincided with U.S. according a waiver on Russian oil purchases on March 12.

Oil imports from Russia have surged notwithstanding crude oil being priced at a premium of as much as $5 for every barrel.

‘Affecting developing countries’

“We must also address the increasing resort to unilateral coercive measures and sanctions inconsistent with international law and the UN Charter. Such measures disproportionately affect developing countries.,” Mr. Jaishankar said. “These unjustifiable measures cannot substitute dialogue, nor can pressure replace diplomacy.”

In the wake of the war in West Asia, the U.S. had granted month-long waivers for oil imports from Iran and Russia, which India took advantage off. However, the waiver on Iran lapsed last month, and the waiver on Russia, which was extended is set to expire on May 16, with U.S. officials indicating that there would be no extension.

Speaking to the media on April 25, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had said that he had agreed to the waivers due to requests from “more than 10 of the most vulnerable and poorest countries”. “But I wouldn’t imagine that we’d have another extension,” he said, adding that the Russian oil available on-board ships that the waiver covered, had already been bought up.

While the Modi government maintains India’s traditional position on not accepting non-UN sanctions, in practice it has complied with a series of sanctions from the U.S. for commercial reasons, including on oil from Iran, Russia and Venezuela, trade with Iran and the development of the Chabahar port.

When asked on Wednesday (May 13) about whether India would consider cutting oil imports from Russia as it did in the past, if the U.S. does not extend the waiver on Saturday, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said the government’s policy is “guided by the interests of 1.4 billion Indians”.

However, he declined to comment on reports that India has asked the U.S. for extension.