The Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday responded to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) chief Mark Rutte's remarks on possible sanctions over India's trade with Russia, as it cautioned against "double standards".

At the weekly media briefing in Delhi, MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said, "We have seen reports on the subject and are closely following the developments. Let me reiterate that securing the energy needs of our people is understandably an overriding priority for us."

Jaiswal warned of double standards regarding the matter.

"In this endeavour, we are guided by what is on offer in the markets and by prevailing global circumstances. We would particularly caution against any double standards on the matter," he said.

Rutte had warned on Wednesday that countries such as Brazil, China, and India could be hit very hard by secondary sanctions if they continued to do business with Russia.

He made the remarks while meeting with senators in the US Congress.

Earlier, US President Donald Trump had announced new weapons for Ukraine and had threatened to slap 100 per cent tariffs on any country buying Russian exports, unless Morocco reaches a peace deal within 50 days.

"My encouragement to these three countries, particularly is, if you live now in Beijing, or in Delhi, or you are the president of Brazil, you might want to take a look into this, because this might hit you very hard," Rutte told reporters.

"So please make the phone call to Vladimir Putin and tell him that he has to get serious about peace talks, because otherwise this will slam back on Brazil, on India and on China in a massive way," Rutte added.