New Delhi: India on Thursday responded to US President Donald Trump’s claims of PM Modi’s assurance to stop Russian oil purchases. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) stated that the current US administration has shown interest in strengthening the energy cooperation with India, adding that the talks are ongoing.
“India is a significant importer of oil and gas. It has been our consistent priority to safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer in a volatile energy scenario. Our import policies are guided entirely by this objective. Ensuring stable energy prices and secured supplies have been the twin goals of our energy policy. This includes broad-basing our energy sourcing and diversifying as appropriate to meet market conditions,” MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
He added, “Where the US is concerned, we have for many years sought to expand our energy procurement. This has steadily progressed in the last decade. The current Administration has shown interest in deepening energy cooperation with India. Discussions are ongoing.”
While speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump expressed that the US was “unhappy” about India purchasing Russian crude oil, claiming that these purchases were aiding President Vladimir Putin’s war efforts.
The US president stated that while India might not be able to stop the purchases right away, the process of reducing them has begun.
“He (Modi) is a friend of mine, we have a great relationship… we were not happy with him buying oil from Russia because that let Russia continue on with this ridiculous war where they’ve lost a million and a half people. I was not happy that India was buying oil, and (Modi) assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia. That’s a big step. Now we’ve got to get China to do the same thing,” Trump said, according to PTI.
“He (Modi) has assured me there will be no oil purchased from Russia. I don’t know, maybe that’s a breaking story. Can I say that?… He’s not buying his oil from Russia. It has started. He can’t do it immediately; it’s a little bit of a process, but the process is going to be over with soon,” he further said.
The US president indicated that the reason the US wants India to halt buying Russian crude is to apply financial pressure on President Vladimir Putin to bring an end to the war in Ukraine.
Trump added, “All we want from President Putin is to stop this, stop killing Ukrainians, and stop killing Russians because he’s killing a lot of Russians. It is a war he should have won in one week, and now it is going into its fourth year.
He asserted India could restart energy trade with Moscow after the Russia-Ukraine war is over, saying, “If India doesn’t buy oil, it makes it much easier, and they’re not going to buy, they assured me they will, within a short period of time, they will not be buying oil from Russia… And they’ll go back to Russia after the war is over.”
Relations between the US and India became tense following Trump’s decision to impose a 50% tariff on Indian goods, a measure he described as retaliation for New Delhi’s continued imports of Russian oil. The strain deepened further when the administration introduced a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications, a programme heavily relied upon by Indian tech professionals seeking employment in the United States.