Kamal Ghorui
NEW DELHI: India is free to purchase crude oil from any supplier and its efforts to diversify energy imports are not new, the Kremlin said on Wednesday, rejecting suggestions that New Delhi has agreed to stop buying Russian oil.Responding to claims by US President Donald Trump that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to halt Russian oil purchases and shift to buying crude from the United States and possibly Venezuela, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia saw nothing unusual in India’s position.
“We, along with all other international energy experts, are well aware that Russia is not the only supplier of oil and petroleum products to India. India has always purchased these products from other countries. Therefore, we see nothing new here,” Peskov said.Peskov added that Russia had not received any official communication from India on stopping imports of Russian oil. He had made a similar remark a day earlier.Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova also defended the energy trade between the two countries, describing it as mutually beneficial.“We remain convinced that India’s purchase of Russian hydrocarbons is beneficial to both countries and contributes to maintaining stability in the international energy market. We are ready to continue close cooperation in this area with our partners in India,” Zakharova said at a press briefing.Also read: How Delhi’s behind-the-scenes push cracked Trump tariff wallPrivate Kommersant FM business radio noted that while Trump spoke of an agreement on Russian oil, Prime Minister Modi did not mention any such commitment.Energy expert Igor Yushkov of the National Energy Security Fund said Indian refiners would find it difficult to completely replace Russian crude with US supplies.“The American shale oil they export is light grades, similar to gas condensate. Russia, on the other hand, supplies relatively heavy, sulfur-rich Urals. This means India will need to blend US crude with other grades, which incurs additional costs, meaning a simple substitution won’t be possible,” he said.Also read: Pakistan’s national meltdown over the India-US trade dealYushkov said Russia currently exports between 1.5 million and 2 million barrels per day to India, a volume the US would struggle to match.“Russia typically exports 1.5 million to 2 million barrels per day to the country. America won’t be able to cover that volume. So, one gets the sense that Trump is simply trying to show that he won these trade negotiations and the deal was concluded entirely in line with US demands,” he said.Recalling the impact of earlier supply shifts, Yushkov said Russia’s pivot to the Indian market in 2022, after losing access to European and American buyers, had led to a production cut of 1 million barrels per day, pushing global oil prices to $120 per barrel and driving US gasoline and diesel prices to record highs.Trump last year imposed tariffs of up to 50 per cent on Indian goods, among the highest globally, including a 25 per cent levy linked to India’s purchases of Russian energy.India imports around 88 per cent of its crude oil needs. Russian oil accounted for just 0.2 per cent of India’s crude imports until 2021, but India became the largest buyer of discounted Russian crude after Western nations distanced themselves from Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.According to data from real-time analytics firm Kpler, India’s imports of Russian crude fell to about 1.1 million barrels per day in the first three weeks of January, down from an average of 1.21 million barrels per day in the previous month and over 2 million barrels per day in mid-2025.
