More than 80 days after Russia invaded Ukraine, Moscow is facing an economic crisis that was largely sparked by the sanctions imposed by the US and other western nations.

Large oil companies like Exxon, Shell, and others have pulled out of their Russian investments and India's ONGC could be looking to fill the gap.

According to sources, ONGC is considering increasing its stake in some oil fields in Russia. These assets were previously owned by Exxon and Shell. However, these transactions are not imminent as of today and any decision taken will depend on the prevailing geopolitical situation.

ONGC has been in Russia and continues to operate in the country. The current sanctions do not apply to already existing investments. But how will the US and the west react if India's public sector company makes fresh investments in Russia which has been hit by a raft of sanctions?

To discuss this, CNBC-TV18 spoke to RS Sharma, former CMD of ONGC. Sharma said it is a national priority to increase equity in oil assets overseas.

"It is a national priority and national urgency that we need to increase more and more equity in oil assets overseas. We need to secure oil equity assets overseas and that has been the prime objective of ONGC Videsh and that is what the company has been doing over the years. So wherever the company can increase the asset base overseas, we should do that.”

He said there is no reason for India to be perturbed by sanctions and western pressure.

"Every nation looks at what is in their interest. Has Europe stopped gas imports from Russia? Are they coming under sanction? No. Then why should India be unnecessarily perturbed? In the past, India was thought to be weak and we used to get pressurized but now I don’t think there is need for us to do that. So India should not hesitate in bidding for such assets."

Watch the video for more.