India on Thursday said its strategy of ensuring the country’s energy security and diversifying sources amid “evolving international dynamics” will be the main factor in deciding the sourcing of energy, including from Russia, while keeping open the option of oil purchases from Venezuela.

The comments from external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal came three days after US President Donald Trump, while announcing the finalisation of a trade deal with India, said the Indian side had “agreed to stop buying Russian Oil and to buy much more from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela”.

When Jaiswal was asked at a weekly media briefing about Trump’s comments about India stopping purchases of Russian energy, he replied that the government has publicly stated on several occasions that ensuring the energy security of 1.4 billion Indians is its “supreme priority”.

He added, “Diversifying energy sourcing in keeping with objective market conditions and evolving international dynamics is at the core of our strategy to ensure this. All of India’s decisions are taken and will be taken with this in mind.”

In the case of Venezuela, Jaiswal said the South American country has been a long-standing partner for India in oil trade and investments in energy exploration. India’s energy imports from Venezuela stopped in 2019-20 because of US sanctions. The purchases resumed in 2023-24, but had to be stopped again after the US imposed a 25% tariff on countries buying Venezuelan oil.