Russian oil Imports India : Moscow Responds as India Stops Russian Oil Trade Following US Deal

Russian oil Imports India : Russia responded to US President Donald Trump’s claim that India decided to stop buying Russian oil as part of a trade agreement inked earlier this week between New Delhi and Washington. The Kremlin pointed out that Moscow is not New Delhi’s only oil supplier, and India’s intention to diversify its petroleum suppliers is not new.

According to Kpler, a worldwide trade data source, India continues to buy approximately 1.5 million barrels of Russian crude per day, despite Trump’s 25% punitive tariffs on Indian imports. New Delhi is the second-largest importer of Russian oil, accounting for more than one-third of total Indian imports.

“We, like all other foreign energy experts, understand that Russia is not India’s exclusive supply of oil and petroleum products. India has always bought these things from other countries. Therefore, we see nothing new here,” Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in response to a question about the US assertion that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has agreed to swap India’s oil purchase from Russia to the United States and, perhaps, from Venezuela.

Russian oil Imports India : Russia’s concerns

A day earlier, Peskov stated that Russia has not received any statements from India regarding the suspension of Russian oil purchases.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry also argued that the hydrocarbon trade benefits both New Delhi and Moscow.

“We remain persuaded that India’s purchase of Russian hydrocarbons benefits both countries and helps to maintain global energy market stability. “We are ready to continue close cooperation in this area with our Indian partners,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said at a press briefing.

Also reads : Iran–US tensions : Donald Trump Sees Serious Talks, Tehran Says No to Forced Dialogue

Russia’s private Kommersant FM business radio highlighted that, unlike President Trump, Prime Minister Modi made no mention of an agreement to halt Russian oil imports.

India’s Dependence on Russian Crude

Until 2021, Russian oil accounted for less than 0.2% of total crude oil imports in India. However, after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022 and Western countries avoided Moscow, New Delhi, the world’s third-biggest oil importer, became the top customer of cheap Russian petroleum.

India imports over 88% of its crude oil, which is processed into fuels such as gasoline and diesel, from other countries, with Russia accounting for one-third of that total. At its peak, India was taking more than 2 million barrels per day, but that figure plummeted to roughly 1.3 million barrels per day in December, and is expected to remain constant this month.

But last year, Trump placed 50% tariffs on India, among the highest in the world, including 25% charges on its purchases of Russian energy. Following this, India’s imports of Russian crude oil fell to roughly 1.1 million barrels per day in the first three weeks of January, down from an average of 1.21 million bpd the previous month and more than 2 million bpd imports by mid-2025, according to statistics from real-time analytics firm Kpler.

Igor Yushkov, a renowned analyst at the National Energy Security Fund, believes that Indian refiners will be unable to completely eliminate Russian crude imports.

“They export mild grades of American shale oil, similar to gas condensate. Russia, on the other hand, supplies the heavy, sulfur-rich Urals. “India will need to blend US crude with other grades, incurring additional costs, making a simple substitution impossible,” he stated while speaking to news agency PTI.Russia usually exports 1.5 million to 2 million barrels per day to the country. America will be unable to cover that volume. So, one gets the impression that Trump is simply attempting to show that he won these trade negotiations and the deal was done totally in line with US expectations,” he added.

Russia dropped production by 1 million barrels per day the last time it shifted from the European and American markets to the Indian market in 2022. As a result, prices rose above $120 per barrel, and gasoline and diesel prices in the United States reached an all-time high, according to Yushkov.