Indian opposition accuses cabinet of hiding agreements with Washington to reduce purchases of Russian oil

The opposition party "Indian National Congress" (INC) attacked the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi after the US president again stated that India "will not buy large quantities of oil from Russia", the PTI news agency reported, quoted by BTA.

The INC pointed out that Trump expresses this position for the fourth time in the last six days and added that "Trump reveals" what Modi is hiding.

The opposition party spread its position after the US President congratulated the Indian Prime Minister on the occasion of Diwali by phone.

"The Prime Minister has finally admitted publicly that President Trump called him and that the two had a conversation. But the Prime Minister only said that the US President had sent him Diwali greetings. But Mr. Trump is revealing what Mr. Modi is hiding", said INC Secretary General for Communications Jairam Ramesh. "The US President, for his part, said that apart from the Diwali greetings, he had commented on India's oil imports from Russia and that he was confident that these imports would be stopped. This is the fourth time in the last six days that the US President has made statements on India's policy," Ramesh added.

Earlier, President Trump was the first to announce the termination of Operation Shindur on the evening of May 10, before Prime Minister Modi made the announcement, the INC leader noted.

Modi wrote on the social network "Ex" this morning: "Thank you, President Trump, for your call and for your warm greetings on the occasion of Diwali." "On this festival of lights, may our two great democracies illuminate the world with hope and together confront terrorism in all its forms," the Indian Prime Minister added.

Earlier, Trump said at the White House: "I love the people of India. We are working on some great agreements between our countries. I spoke to Prime Minister Modi today and we had a very good interaction. He's not going to buy a lot of oil from Russia. He wants to see the war end as much as I do." "They're not going to buy too much oil. So they've cut back significantly and they're continuing to do so," Trump added.

The IANS said that Trump had raised the issue of India's imports of Russian oil four times in the past six days and that the Indian Foreign Ministry had "ignored" the question of whether Modi had promised Trump that India would stop buying oil from Moscow.

An Indian foreign ministry spokesman said in response to a question about Trump's comments that he was not aware of any phone call in which the Indian prime minister had assured the US president of such a thing, adding that India was balancing its oil purchases with the interests of Indian consumers in the "unstable" environment. energy sector.

According to the INC, Prime Minister Modi is "afraid" of Trump and appears to have delegated some key decisions to the US.

Washington alleges that India is helping Russian President Vladimir Putin finance the war in Ukraine by ordering crude oil from Russia. Relations between Delhi and Washington have been highly strained since Trump doubled import duties on Indian goods to a whopping 50%, with 25% of them being a punitive measure for India's purchases of Russian oil.

India has described the US actions as "unfair, unjustified and unreasonable".