US President Donald Trump believes that India will almost completely stop buying Russian oil by the end of 2025.
“It's a process. You can't just stop it. But by the end of the year they will almost completely stop“, said the US leader after his meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte. “This is something important“, said Trump. According to the data he provided, India buys “almost 40%“ of its oil from Russia.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko earlier told TASS that oil supplies from Russia to India are still continuing. "It's all going on," he said, commenting on Trump's recent statements promising to maintain high tariffs on India unless it stops buying Russian energy products. On August 6, the United States imposed an additional 25% tariff on India's purchases of oil and oil products from Russia. At the end of August, US tariffs on Indian goods and services were increased to 50%.
On October 15, Trump said that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had personally informed him of New Delhi's readiness to stop buying Russian oil. However, the Indian Foreign Ministry later stressed that there was no information about any contact between Modi and Trump on that day. New Delhi focuses on the interests of consumers when it comes to energy imports, an Indian Foreign Ministry official noted.