Russian oil supplies to India continuing – deputy foreign minister

New Delhi is still importing crude from Russia, despite Trump’s claim that it has agreed to stop such purchases, Andrey Rudenko has said

Crude supplies from Russia to India will continue as usual, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko told TASS on Monday.

Rudenko’s comments come against the backdrop of US President Donald Trump’s claim last week that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi “assured” him that India would cease purchasing Russian oil in a phone call between the two leaders.

“Everything continues,” Rudenko told TASS.

Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal told reporters last week that he was “not aware” of any conversation between Modi and Trump over New Delhi’s purchases of Russian oil. 

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His comments came hours after India issued a formal statement saying its primary goal regarding energy trade is to protect the interests of its consumers in the volatile energy market, and that its import policies are driven solely by this objective.

Since 2022, India has substantially increased its oil imports from Russia. As of late September, Russia remained India’s largest oil supplier, providing around 1.6 million barrels per day, which accounted for about one-third of India’s crude imports , according to ship-tracking data. 

Indian private companies have been capitalizing on the discounted prices of Russian oil and exporting refined oil products to European markets.

In August, Trump announced a 25% tariff on India as a penalty for the country’s purchases of Russian oil, which he claims are helping Russia prolong the Ukraine conflict.

Speaking on the sidelines of Russia Energy Week last week, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak said that he was confident about Russia’s continued energy partnership with India.