US President Donald Trump imposed a 50% tariff against India earlier this month — citing its continued purchase of Russian oil amidst the Ukraine war. New Delhi has pushed back vehemently against the “unfair, unjustified, and unreasonable” decision and indicated plans to maintain its ties with Moscow. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar also said that he was “perplexed” by the logic during a press briefing on Thursday.
‘US urged us to buy oil from Russia’
“We are not the biggest purchasers of Russian oil, that is China. We are not the biggest purchasers of LNG, 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,” Jaishankar reminded.
The Foreign Minister also noted that India had been encouraged by the US to “stabilise the world energy market” by buying Russian oil. Former US envoy Eric Garcetti had also made a similar claim in 2024 — insisting that this was “the design of the policy”.
“We are a country where the Americans have said for the last few years that we should do everything to stabilise the world energy market, including buying oil from Russia. Incidentally, we also buy oil from the US, and that amount has increased. So honestly, we are very perplexed at the logic of the argument…” the EAM added.
Growing India-Russia ties
The remarks were made during a press briefing in Moscow his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov after wide-ranging talks. Jaishankar landed in Moscow in Tuesday to fine-tune various elements of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s upcoming visit to the country. India and Russia vowed to expand their bilateral trade in a “balanced and sustainable manner” on Thursday — with External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar underlining the need to “swiftly” address non-tariff barriers and regulatory impediments.
The resolve by the two countries to enhance two-way trade — including by increasing Indian exports to Russia — comes amid growing estrangement in ties between India and the US over President Donald Trump’s policies on trade and tariffs.
“We believe that relations between India and Russia have been among the steadiest of the major relationships in the world after the Second World War. Geo-political convergence, leadership contacts and popular sentiment remain its key drivers,” Jaishankar said.
(With inputs from agencies)