The issue of buying cheap oil from Russia: Miftah Ismail's interview puts N- League in trouble

 The issue of buying cheap oil from Russia: Miftah Ismail's interview puts N-League in trouble

If oil cannot be bought because of sanctions on Russia, then how is it possible to buy wheat? ''Question from former federal ministers Hamad Azhar and Shaukat Tareen?''

Federal Finance Minister Miftah Ismail's statement to buy cheap oil from Russia has dealt a severe blow to the Shahbaz Sharif government's reputation in public circles, while non-aligned leaders say the finance minister's habit of talking nonsense has put the government in a difficult position. The PTI will benefit from his statement.

The PTI has maintained that during Imran Khan's visit to Russia, it was finalized to buy oil from Russia up to 30% cheaper than the world market, but his government was overthrown before a formal agreement was reached. The claim has been dismissed as a hoax, but in an interview with CNN, the coalition's finance minister and non-aligned leader, Miftah Ismail, said Russia had sanctions and could not buy cheap oil from Russia.

Former PTI finance minister Senator Shaukat Tareen has slammed Miftah Ismail, saying his party and allies have been lying to the nation and now believe the government is reluctant to buy cheap oil from Russia for fear of US sanctions, while India is reluctant to do so. Is the sanctions not being imposed on India? He said that the finance minister was talking about sanctions on the one hand and wheat imports from Russia on the other.

CNN host Becky Anderson asked Finance Minister Miftah Ismail if Pakistan desperately needs help in the face of rising prices, is the government considering buying oil and wheat from Russia? Is this true? To which Muftah Ismail replied that we have talked about buying wheat from Russia. 

The previous government had talked about buying oil from Russia but I think Russia has sanctions at the moment. We have not yet responded to the letter sent by the previous government to buy oil, but we have talked to both Russia and Ukraine, and we would like to buy wheat from any of them who are willing to give us wheat.

The host then asked if this meant that oil would not be purchased. Are you saying that? Will not buy oil from Russia? To this question, Miftah Ismail once again replied that the previous government had written a letter to Russia, to which no reply was received. So far, Russia has not made any offer to sell oil. There are sanctions, so it's hard for me to think that we can buy oil from Russia.

 

Becky Anderson again asked that many countries are buying oil from Russia, for example Pakistan's neighbor India is buying oil from Russia, so can Pakistan also be ready to buy cheap oil from Russia? 

Miftah Ismail replied that if Russia offered us cheap oil and if there was no restriction on Pakistan to buy oil from Russia then we would definitely consider it but at that time I don't think it would be possible for Pakistani bank LC (Letter of Credit) so that oil can be purchased from Russia and Russia has not made any offer.

In an interview with the Finance Minister, former PTI Federal Minister Hamad Azhar responded on Twitter that Miftah Ismail claims that Pakistani banks cannot open Letters of Credit (LCs) for purchases of Russian products but at the same time they would announce.

 We are ready to buy wheat from Russia. Then they say that the government can buy oil from Russia if there is no ban. 45 days have passed and they do not know that there is no such ban.

PTI leader and former human rights minister Shirin Mazari made a similar claim. He wrote that after 45 days they are saying that we will buy oil from Russia if there is no ban. Shirin Mazari said that oil from Russia. There is no ban on buying. They should ask India. What is stopping them from buying oil from Russia except the fear of America?

It should be noted that PTI Chairman Imran Khan had claimed that Pakistan was negotiating to buy cheap oil from Russia. It was written to Russia nine days ago and it described the background of trade relations between the two countries after the visit of former Prime Minister Imran Khan to Russia and said that Pakistan imports crude oil, petrol and diesel from Russia at cheap rates. 

Miftah sahib says that our banks cannot open L/C's in favour of Russian products but then he goes on to announce buying Russian Wheat. Then he says that the govt will buy Russian oil if no sanctions are in place. 45 days and he still doesn't know that there are no sanctions.

— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) May 31, 2022

In the letter, Azhar wrote to his Russian counterpart asking him to provide details of Russian officials who would further discuss the matter with Russian institutions. Miftah Ismail Hammad bhai listened to my interview carefully again. 

I said that your government had written the letter but I said that there was no reply. Waited a month after the visit to Russia and then wrote this letter even when you knew you would lose the no-confidence motion and it was written only for politics.

After this interview given to CNN by the leaders of Tehreek-e-Insaf and PML-N, a lot of discussion is going on and users are expressing their views on it and this question is being asked once again. If India can buy cheap oil from Russia then why not Pakistani government?

New power minister says there is no evidence of communication with Russia over purchase of discounted oil & Gas. Like the story of 27 out of order power plants, this also is a lie. IK as PM chaired 2 meetings on the subject & we were aiming for purchasing first cargoes in April. pic.twitter.com/JTzDEltAtb

— Hammad Azhar (@Hammad_Azhar) May 10, 2022

It may be recalled that US strategic partner India is also buying oil from Russia and on May 21, the Indian government announced a reduction in the prices of oil products. 

Yesterday, Bangladesh Foreign Minister AK Abdul Memon also spoke to India. The talks were aimed at finding out how to buy cheap oil and wheat from Russia without fear of sanctions.

He told Bangladesh News Twenty-Four, ''Russia has offered to sell us oil and wheat, but we cannot do so for fear of sanctions. We have asked India how they did not do that.'' So we are told that India has found some tricks. The Foreign Minister of Bangladesh said that India is a big country and no sanctions are imposed on them. 

We are a poor and small country therefore we are easy targets of the West and it tries to control us. It should be clear that Russia and Ukraine. There has been talk of ending Russia's dependence on oil and gas since the war to hurt Russia's revenues, ''but so far the European Union and Britain have not completely stopped buying oil and gas from Russia.''

Australia, Canada and the United States have imposed a complete ban on Russian oil purchases, but the European Union has not been able to reach a full agreement on the issue. But the decision to use oil coming through the Russian pipeline will continue because of opposition from countries such as Hungary and Slovakia, which depend on Russia's oil and gas.

It should be noted that Poland and Germany have also decided to ban the import of oil from Russia through the pipeline, after which 90% of Russian oil supplied to Europe will be cut off. So far no ban has been imposed on Russian gas. 

Earlier, under sanctions against Russia, Russian banks were expelled from the global Swift system, which was intended to prevent Russia from paying for the export of its products.

''It should be noted that Russia relies on the Swift system for oil and gas exports.''

Withdrawal from the Swift system would make it difficult for Russian companies to pay, which would adversely affect its energy and agricultural exports. 

I will have to make direct payments to the banks which will incur additional costs thus reducing the revenues of the Russian government.