Josep Borrell, vice president of the European Commission and the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, wants to assess the union’s possibilities for further measures against the sales of Indian fuels that is based on crude oil bought from Russia, Borrell says in an interview with Financial Times.

Borrell tells the newspaper that the EU is aware that Indian refineries purchase large quantities of Russian crude before refining it into fuels in India and, finally, selling it off to e.g. Europe.

According to the media, this is the first time that he has articulated a need for this to stop.

”If diesel or gasoline is entering Europe, coming from India and being produced with Russian oil, that is certainly a circumvention of sanctions and member states have to take measures,” Borrell tells Financial Times.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, India has become one of the major buyers of Russian crude. Indian refineries earn large sums on buying the cheap oil that is no longer eligible for sales in Europe.

The newspaper reports that the trade is legal under current EU sanctions but has been critiqued by those who seek tougher sanctions against Russia. The argumentation for this is that the maneuver allows Kremlin to keep up earnings from oil sales; an income which makes up a substantial amount of the Russian budget.

Borrell says in the interview that it is normal for India to buy Russian oil, but if this oil is sold on to Europe, then ”we have to act.”

His comments are made ahead of a Tuesday meeting with India’s minister of external affairs, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. Here, the EU head will bring forth the issue, Financial Times alleges.