President Donald Trump has said Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has agreed to stop buying Russian oil, as the US seeks to put economic pressure on the Kremlin as part of effort to end the war in Ukraine.
trump told reporters he receibed assurances from Modi that India would halt its purchases "within a short period of time," which he called "a big stop."
A spokeswoman for the Indian embassy in Washington DC would not comment. The US president has sought to leverage India's purchases of Russian oil in his trade war, but New Delhi has resisted, creating a diplomatic rift. oil and gas are Russia's biggest exports, and Moscow's biggest customers include China, India and Turkey.
"Now I've got to get China to do the same thing," Trump said in Oval office on Wednesday. His administration is also pushing Beijing, and other trading partners, to stop buying oil from Russia, part of a broader push to cot off Moscow's energy funding. India cannot "immediately" halt oil shipments, Trump said, adding that the shift will be "a little bit of a process, but the process is going to be over with soon."
Indian officials have criticized the Trump administration’s accusations that Delhi profits from Russia’s war in Ukraine, calling them a double standard and pointing to the continued trade between Russia, the U.S., and Europe.
India depends heavily on discounted Russian crude oil to support its economy — the fifth largest in the world.
The dispute over Russian oil has strained relations between Trump and Modi, although the U.S. president on Wednesday praised the Indian leader as a “great man.”
Modi said last week that he had spoken with Trump and that they had “reviewed the good progress achieved in trade negotiations.”
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