Blitz Bureau
NEW DELHI: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte issued a stern warning to India and China on July 16, declaring that the organisation would impose “100% secondary sanctions” on countries continuing to trade oil and gas with Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Backed by US President Donald Trump’s shifted stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Rutte stated: “If you are the President of China, or the Prime Minister of India, or the President of Brazil, and you are still trading with the Russians and buying their oil and gas I will impose sanctions at 100 %.
Further, the NATO chief urged India, China and Brazil to encourage Putin in peace negotiations with Ukraine, , emphasising that failure to do so would result in severe economic repercussions.
The threat of sanctions poses significant diplomatic and economic challenges, particularly for countries like India, which has markedly increased its imports of discounted Russian oil since the invasion began. “My encouragement to these three countries, particularly is, if you live now in Beijing, or in Delhi or Brazil you might want to take a look into this, because this might hit you very hard,” Mark Rutte told reporters.
“So please make the phone call to Vladimir Putin and tell him that he has to get serious about peace talks, because otherwise this will slam back on Brazil, on India and on China in a massive way,” Rutte added.
