Russia has accused the United States of exerting pressure on India, slamming the country for issuing ‘threats’ over New Delhi’s trade relations with Kremlin.
It said that such pressure was illegal, and the US has no right to choose trading partners for countries.
“We hear many statements that are in fact threats, attempts to force countries to cut trade relations with Russia. We do not consider such statements to be legal,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“We believe that sovereign countries should have and do have the right to choose their own trading partners, partners for trade and economic cooperation, and to choose for themselves the forms of trade and economic cooperation that are in the interests of a particular country,” he added.
US President Donald Trump has said he will impose new sanctions on Russia as well as on countries that buy its energy exports from Friday unless President Vladimir Putin ends his war with Ukraine, which has been going on since 2022.
“India is not only buying massive amounts of Russian Oil, they are then, for much of the Oil purchased, selling it on the Open Market for big profits,” Trump wrote on social media Monday. “They don’t care how many people in Ukraine are being killed by the Russian War Machine. Because of this, I will be substantially raising the Tariff paid by India to the USA.”
India pushes back on Trump threats
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Monday hit back after Donald Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on India over its energy trade with Russia, calling it “unjustified and unreasonable”.
“India began importing from Russia because traditional supplies were diverted to Europe after the outbreak of the conflict. The United States at that time actively encouraged such imports by India for strengthening global energy markets stability,” said the MEA.
Europe-Russia trade includes not just energy, but also fertilisers, mining products, chemicals, iron and steel and machinery and transport equipment, it said.
“Where the United States is concerned, it continues to import from Russia uranium hexafluoride for its nuclear industry, palladium for its EV industry, fertilisers as well as chemicals,” the MEA said in its statement on Monday.