India has pushed back against United States' pressure to cut crude oil imports from Russia, claiming that New Delhi “has not broken any rules”.
“India's adherence to all international norms prevented a catastrophic $200 per barrel shock,” Union Oil Minister Hardeep Singh Puri wrote in a column for The Hindu on Monday. “Some critics allege that India has become a ‘laundromat’ for Russian oil. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
In a new rant against India for its purchases of Russian oil, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro has said that “Brahmins” are profiteering at the expense of the Indian people and it needs to “stop”.
“Look (Prime Minister Narendra) Modi is a great leader,” Navarro said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday.
The trade adviser said that he doesn't understand how the Indian leader is cooperating with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping “when he's the biggest democracy in the world”.
“So I would just simply say, the Indian people, please understand what's going on here. You got Brahmins profiteering at the expense of the Indian people. We need that to stop,” Navarro said.
India's Russian oil imports
Earlier, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused the country’s wealthiest families of profiteering, and Navarro said the nation was fueling “the Russian war machine” and “nothing but a laundromat” for the Kremlin.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent accused the country’s wealthiest families of profiteering, and Navarro said the nation was fueling “the Russian war machine” and “nothing but a laundromat” for the Kremlin.
{{/usCountry}}“India has not broken rules,” Puri wrote, adding that New Delhi's Russian oil imports were compliant with a G-7 price-cap mechanism that was designed to limit Moscow’s revenues yet also keep crude flowing. “India has stabilised markets and kept global prices from spiralling.”
Russia, which previously had a negligible share in India's oil imports, has accounted for 37% of New Delhi's buys this year, according to Kpler data accessed by Bloomberg. India took advantage of a $20 a barrel discount after Europe halted purchases in the wake of the Ukraine war. The discounts have narrowed to a tenth of that as sanctions tightened.
No Pause
India is unlikely to stop Russian imports unless a global ban is imposed, as the issue is morphing into a political decision on the nation’s freedom to choose rather than a purely economic one, analysts at CLSA including Vikash Kumar Jain said in a note last week.
According to a Reuters report on 28 August 2025, India's Russian oil imports are set to rise in September despite a 50% Trump tariff in effect. Indian crude oil refiners—led by Reliance Industries Ltd. and Rosneft OAO-backed Nayara Energy—are likely to increase Russian oil purchases by 10-20%, or by 150,000-300,000 barrels per day, from August levels.
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“The truth is that there is no substitute for world’s second-largest producer supplying nearly 10% of global oil,” Puri said in his column. "Those who are pointing fingers ignore this fact,” Puri said.