Washington/New Delhi, March 16 : Amid reports that India may be exploring the option of buying discounted Russian crude, the US has said such countries should abide by US sanctions and think about “their place in history books”, with regard to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said on Tuesday: “Our message to any country continues to be that: obviously abide by the sanctions that we’ve put in place and recommended – I don’t believe this would be violating that – but also think about where you want to stand when the history books are written on this moment in time, and support for the Russian leadership is support for an invasion that is obviously having a devastating impact,” when asked about the possibility of countries such as India purchasing the discounted Russian oil. India is reported to be exploring options for buying Russian crude oil, with prices there plummeting after Moscow was hit by US sanctions over the Ukraine war. Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said the government was having conversations “at the appropriate level of the Russian Federation” regarding the purchase. “Discussions are currently underway. There are several issues to be gone into like how much oil is available,” he told parliament. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said last week that Russia wanted to attract Indian investment in the oil and gas industry in the wake of the Western sanctions. RN