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From Moscow, Jaishankar delivers a blunt rebuttal to barbs from US officials
Jaishankar’s remarks were the first public response by a senior Indian minister to criticism by key figures in the US administration for buying Russian oil
NEW DELHI: External affairs minister S Jaishankar on Thursday responded to the Trump administration’s repeated criticism of India’s purchases of Russian crude by dispelling claims by senior American officials and saying the US itself had asked India to help stabilise global energy markets by buying Russian oil.
Jaishankar’s remarks, made at a news conference with Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov in Moscow, were the first public response by a senior Indian minister to accusations by key figures in the US administration that India was profiteering by buying Russian oil and also helping fund the Russian war in Ukraine.
Jaishankar later called on President Vladimir Putin.
President Donald Trump has railed in recent weeks against defence and energy cooperation between India and Russia and contended that India sells Russian oil in the open market for profits without caring for people killed in Ukraine by the “Russian war machine”. On Monday, White House trade adviser Peter Navarro repeated Trump’s allegations in an article and accused India of being “a global clearinghouse for Russian oil”.
When Jaishankar was asked about Navarro’s accusations, he declined to comment on the person but responded to the issue by rubbishing claims by American officials that India is the largest buyer of Russian energy.
“We are not the biggest purchasers of Russian oil; that is China. We are not the biggest purchasers of Russian LNG. I’m not sure, but I think that is the European Union. We are not the country which has the biggest trade surge with Russia after 2022, I think there are some countries to the south,” he said.
Jaishankar clarified that over the past few years, the US had said that India “should do everything to stabilise the world energy markets, including buying oil from Russia”.
He added, “Incidentally, we also buy oil from America, and that amount has been increasing. So, quite honestly, we are very perplexed at the logic of the argument that you had referred to.”
The US is set to impose a 25% punitive tariff on Indian exports from August 28 over Russian oil purchases, which will be in addition to a 25% reciprocal tariff already in place.
The external affairs ministry has defended India’s purchases of Russian oil and military hardware, saying that these acquisitions are driven by national security and energy security interests and aimed at ensuring predictable and affordable energy for Indian consumers. The ministry has also said US efforts to penalise India are “unjustified and unreasonable”, especially when other countries haven’t been targeted for oil purchases from Moscow.
India increased the purchase of discounted Russian commodities, especially oil and fertilisers, after the US and its Western partners slapped sanctions on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Russia soon displaced Iraq and Saudi Arabia as the main suppliers of crude to India, the world’s third-largest oil importer. Russia jumped from providing less than 1% of India’s energy needs to almost 40%.
However, China imported Russian petroleum and crude worth $62.6 billion in 2024, while India’s imports of the same items were worth $53 billion, according to data aggregated by the UN.
On Wednesday, Russian officials dismissed concerns that sanctions and tariffs imposed by the US and the European Union would hit oil supplies to India and said Moscow has a “very special mechanism” to get around punitive measures imposed by the Trump administration to curb energy trade.
