India says it will continue to buy oil from russia despite Trump's warning

Indian companies will continue to buy oil from russia despite US President Donald Trump's threat to impose secondary sanctions on the country for buying russian oil.

The New York Times reports this, citing two Indian officials.

According to the newspaper's sources, India's policy, which became the largest importer of russian oil during the war, has not changed in this regard. The government "has not given any instructions to oil companies" to reduce imports from russia, one of the officials said.

On July 14, Trump promised to impose a 100% tariff on imports from countries that buy russian energy resources (including China and Turkey) if moscow does not end the war in Ukraine within 50 days. On July 29, the head of the White House reduced the time frame to 10 days (the deadline expires on August 8) due to "strong disappointment" with president vladimir putin, who, despite Washington's attempts to ensure peace, continues to escalate the military conflict in Ukraine.

After that, as the Ukrainian News agency informed, Bloomberg, citing its sources, reported that, amid growing pressure from Washington, the Indian authorities recommended that national oil refining companies develop alternative supply plans and consider options for purchasing raw materials from other countries.

As a result, four Indian refineries, which provide more than 60% of the country's refining capacity, stopped purchasing russian oil. These are Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp, Bharat Petroleum Corp and Mangalore Refinery Petrochemical Ltd, which previously actively worked with russian raw materials.

Previously, Trump announced the introduction of high tariffs on goods from dozens of countries, including India, for which the tariff is set at 25%, as negotiations with it on a trade agreement have reached an impasse over access to the country's agricultural sector.

The US President also reported again on Friday that oil supplies from russia to India have decreased.

"I understand that India is no longer going to be buying oil from Russia," he told reporters. "That's what I heard. I don't know if that's right or not. That is a good step. We will see what happens," he told reporters.

After the full-scale russian invasion of Ukraine, India became the world's largest buyer of russian oil, increasing its purchases from almost nothing to a third of its imports, taking advantage of significant discounts from russian suppliers. Before that, the country's traditional suppliers were countries in the Middle East and Africa.