India snubs Trump, says he will continue to buy oil from Russia
By AKINTOYE OBISESAN, World Report
President Trump said last week that he would punish India if it did not cut off Russian oil imports, but he did not specify what the penalty might be.
Indian officials said on Saturday August 2, 2025 that they would keep purchasing cheap oil from Russia despite a threat of penalties from US President Donald Trump.
It is the latest twist in an issue that New Delhi thought it had settled.
The DEFENDER recalls that Trump said last week that as part of his latest round of tariffs, he would impose an unspecified additional penalty on India if it did not cut off its imports of Russian crude oil.
On Friday, he appeared to echo reports of a recent dip in the arrival of Russian oil to India.
“I understand that India is no longer going to be buying oil from Russia,” Trump told reporters, adding, “That’s what I heard. I don’t know if that’s right or not. That is a good step. We will see what happens.”
But on Saturday, two senior Indian officials debunked the American president’s Russian oil claim saying there had been no change in policy.
One official said the government had “not given any direction to oil companies” to cut back imports from Russia.
At a news conference a day earlier, Randhir Jaiswal, the spokesman for India’s foreign ministry, declined to address Mr. Trump’s threat directly. But he suggested there would be no change of policy regarding Russia.
“Our bilateral relationships with various countries stand on their own merit and should not be seen from the prism of a third country,” Mr. Jaiswal said.
He said “India and Russia have a steady and time-tested partnership.”
Trump did not say what the penalty would be if India were to defy his call to cut off Russian oil imports.
Some officials and analysts have said that Trump’s focus on India’s purchase of Russian oil could be a negotiating tactic as India and the United States try to conclude the early phases of a bilateral trade agreement.
Reports have it that China and Turkey, two other major importers of Russian oil, have not faced similar penalties.
As at the time of filing this report on Saturday, India is believed to have drastically increased its purchases of Russian oil since the war in Ukraine began.
Russia is now the source of more than one third of India’s oil imports — up from less than one percent before the war. Bringing in more than two million barrels of crude oil a day, India is the second largest importer of Russian oil, after China.
