Sri Lanka PM Wickremesinghe says he’s open to Russian oil

“If we can get from any other sources, we will get from there. Otherwise [we] may have to go to Russia again,” said the newly appointed prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe

Sri Lanka may be compelled to buy more oil from Russia as the island nation hunts desperately for fuel amid an unprecedented economic crisis, the newly appointed prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he would first look to other sources but would be open to buying more crude from Moscow.

Western nations largely have cut off energy imports from Russia in line with sanctions over its war on Ukraine.

In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press on Saturday, Wickremesinghe also indicated he would be willing to accept more financial help from China, despite his country’s mounting debt.

And while he acknowledged that Sri Lanka’s current predicament is “its own making”, he said the war in Ukraine is making it even worse — and that dire food shortages could continue until 2024. He said Russia had also offered wheat to Sri Lanka.

Wickremesinghe, who is also Sri Lanka’s finance minister, spoke to the AP in his office in the capital, Colombo, one day shy of a month after he took over for a sixth time as prime minister.

Appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to resolve an economic crisis that has nearly emptied the country’s foreign exchange reserves, Wickremesinghe was sworn in after days of violent protests last month forced his predecessor, Rajapaksa’s brother Mahinda Rajapaksa, to step down and seek safety from angry crowds at a naval base.