Bangladesh seeks Indian advice to purchase Russian oil, wheat: Momen

Foreign minister AK Abdul MomenFile photo

Bangladesh has sought advice from India as to how oil and wheat can be purchased from Russia.

Foreign minister AK Abdul Momen revealed this while answering a query of a newsman in his office on Monday afternoon.

The foreign minister returned home after attending a conference on rivers held in Assam, the northeastern state of India. On the sideline of the conference, Momen had a discussion with Indian foreign minister S Jaishankar.

When asked about the discussion on the Russia-Ukraine situation between two neighbouring countries, Abdul Momen said, "We have discussed with India about the situation there. They are working on tackling the energy crisis."

"Russia has proposed to sell oil to us. They also want to sell wheat. But we are afraid of sanctions (Western including US sanctions). We have wanted to know from India what they did. They have told us that. The energy crisis is a real problem for us. We are afraid of it. So we want their advice. Especially how they are purchasing oil and wheat from Russia," the foreign minister added.

Momen said, "We had a friendly discussion over the matter. They are tackling the situation (purchasing oil and wheat from Russia). They are a big country and they can manage. If they take any step, none imposes sanctions on them. We are small and poor country and there is pressure on us a bit more."

"You see their interference. You (mass media) encourage them. They come up with new issues every day. We would call them development partners. They don't provide any money for development. But now they are only giving advice," he said.

Momen said, "They are giving all types of suggestions so that the development is hampered. They are setting various conditions to create unrest. This is not acceptable. So we have discussed this India. Some regional organisations have to be established so that we can tackle any problem that may emerge. We have discussed this. We have discussed how we can achieve stability regionally."