India’s purchase of Russian crude was driven by its own energy requirements and national development goals and not by any desire to help Moscow, said Denis Alipov, Russian Ambassador to India, defending the bilateral energy trade amid continued Western pressure on New Delhi.“India does not buy Russian oil for the sake of helping Russia. It is buying oil for itself, its people and its own national development,” Alipov said in an interview with India’s public broadcaster DD India. The remarks come amid renewed international scrutiny of India’s purchases of Russian crude, with Washington seeking to exert pressure on countries that continue to buy Russian energy as the Ukraine conflict enters its fifth year.Alipov said Russia remained committed to supplying to India and described the energy relationship as being in line with New Delhi’s national interests.