INDIA on Friday said it is closely following developments relating to a proposed American legislation that seeks to impose up to 500 per cent tariff on countries procuring Russian crude oil. India and China are among a handful of countries which are procuring a significant volume of crude oil from Russia. US Senator Lindsey Graham, the author of the bill, said this week that President Donald Trump has green-lighted the proposed legislation. “We are aware of the proposed bill. We are closely following the developments,

 

” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said at his weekly media briefing here. “Our position on the larger question of energy sourcing is well known.” “In this endeavour, we are guided by the evolving dynamics of the global market and by the imperative to secure affordable energy from diverse sources to meet the energy security needs of our 1.4 billion people,” he said. Jaiswal said, “Whether India buys oil from one region or another, India’s approach is based on two imperatives --one is the available or evolving global dynamics and two, the imperative to provide energy at affordable rates to our 1.4 bn people.”