Trump says Modi has assured him India will not buy Russian oil

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump said on Oct 15 that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to stop buying oil from Russia, and that he would next try to get China to do the same, as Washington intensifies efforts to cut off Moscow’s energy revenues.

India and China are the two top buyers of Russian seaborne crude exports.

They took advantage of discounted prices that the Kremlin has been forced to accept after European buyers shunned Russian oil and the US and the European Union imposed sanctions on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Mr Trump has recently

targeted India for its purchases of Russian oil.

He imposed tariffs on Indian exports to the US to discourage New Delhi’s crude buying as he seeks to choke off Russia’s oil revenues and pressure Moscow into negotiating a peace deal in Ukraine.

“So I was not happy that India was buying oil, and he assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia,” Mr Trump told reporters during a White House event. 

“That’s a big step. Now we’re going to get China to do the same thing.”

The Indian Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to e-mailed questions about whether Mr Modi had made such a commitment to Mr Trump.

Russia is India’s top oil supplier. Moscow exported 1.62 million barrels per day to India in September, roughly one-third of the country’s oil imports.

For months,

Mr Modi resisted US pressure

, with Indian officials defending the purchases as vital to national energy security.

A move by India to stop imports would signal a major shift by one of Moscow’s top energy customers and could reshape the calculus for other nations still importing Russian crude.

Mr Trump wants to leverage bilateral relationships to enforce economic isolation on Russia, rather than relying solely on multilateral sanctions.

During his comments to reporters, Mr Trump added that India could not “immediately” halt shipments, calling it “a little bit of a process, but that process will be over soon”.

Despite his push on India, Mr Trump has largely avoided placing similar pressure on China.

The US trade war with Beijing has complicated diplomatic efforts, with Mr Trump reluctant to risk further escalation by demanding a halt to Chinese energy imports from Russia. REUTERS