Indian officials have said they would keep purchasing oil from Russia despite the threat of penalties that U.S. President Donald Trump said he would impose, the New York Times reported on Saturday.Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
The White House, India’s Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Trump last month indicated in a Truth Social post that India would face additional penalties for purchase of Russian arms and oil. However, he later said that he did not care what India does with Russia. On Friday, Trump told reporters that he had heard that India would no longer be buying oil from Russia.
What do Indian officials say?
Two senior Indian officials said there had been no change in policy, according to the NYT report, which added that one official said the government had “not given any direction to oil companies” to cut back imports from Russia.
Reuters had earlier reported that Indian state refiners stopped buying Russian oil in the past week as discounts narrowed in July.On July 14, Trumpthreatened100% tariffs on countries that buy Russian oil unless Moscow reaches a major peace deal with Ukraine. Russia is the top supplier to India, responsible for about 35% of India’s overall supplies.
In a recent development
Ukraine’s military said on Saturday that it had struck oil facilities inside Russia, including a major refinery as well as a military airfield for drones and an electronics factory. In a statement on Telegram, Ukraine’s Unmanned Systems Forces said they had hit the oil refinery in Ryazan, about 180 km (110 miles) southeast of Moscow, causing a fire on its premises.
Also hit, the USF said, was the Annanefteprodukt oil storage facility in the Voronezh region that borders on northeastern Ukraine. The statement did not specify how the facilities were hit, but the USF specialises in drone warfare, including long-range strikes .There was no immediate comment from Russia on the reported attacks on its infrastructure sites