Aug. 25 (UPI) — India will continue buying oil from “wherever they get the best deal,” Delhi’s ambassador to Russia, Vinay Kumar, told Russian state-owned news, as the Trump administration applies pressure on the South Asian nation to stop sourcing its energy from Moscow.
Speaking to TASS on Sunday, the ambassador, Vinay Kumar, said India’s objective is energy security for its 1.4 billion people, and U.S. criticism over its decision to continue to buy Russian oil “is unfair, unreasonable and unjustified.”
“Government will continue taking measures, which will protect the national interest of the country,” he said. “So, if the basis of commercial transaction trade imports are right, Indian companies will continue buying from wherever they get the best deal. So that’s what the current situation is.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has imposed a 50% tariff on Indian imports, of which 25% is a punitive tax applied over its continued purchase of Russian oil, which is to go into effect Thursday.
Trump — who campaigned on ending the Russian war in Ukraine within 24 hours of returning to the White House — is still looking for an end to the fighting, and has turned his anger against India, which he accuses of not only buying Russian oil but then selling it for profit.
Earlier this month after Trump threatened imposing the tariffs, India accused the United States, as well as the European Union, of hypocrisy, saying they began importing from Russia “because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict.”
“India’s imports are meant to ensure predictable and affordable energy costs to the Indian consumer. They are a necessity compelled by global market situation,” India’s foreign ministry said in a statement. “However, it is revealing that the very nations criticizing India are themselves indulging in trade with Russia. Unlike our case, such trade is not even a vital national compulsion.”
It said the targeting of India was both “unjustified and unreasonable,” and that it will take “all necessary measures to safeguard its national interests and economic security.”
The comments from Kumar came as U.S. Vice President JD Vance told NBC News’ Meet the Press on Sunday that targeting India with tariffs was part of the plan to coerce Russia to the negotiating table to end its war in Ukraine.
Calling the tariffs “aggressive economic leverage,” Vance said the secondary tariffs on India are an effort to “try and make it harder for the Russians to get rich from their oil economy.”
On Thursday, India and Russia vowed to strengthen cooperation, with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stating Russian oil shipments to the Indian marker are “making wide strides” and that both countries are “interested in implementing joint energy production projects” in Russia’s Far East and Arctic shelf.
According to the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air, between Dec. 2, 2022, and July, India has purchased 38% of Russia’s crude exports, second only to China, which bought 47%.