External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar reacted on Thursday (August 21, 2025) to a meeting with the US to buy oil from Russia during a meeting with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Moscow. He said that India is “very surprised” in understanding this argument.

Jaishankar told that India is not the largest oil buyer of Russia, it is China. At the same time, India is not even the largest LNG buyer, it is the European Union. Apart from this, India did not do the biggest trade growth with Russia after 2022, some countries have more business in the south.

Why did America not put tariffs on China?
The US has not yet imposed any ban on China for oil imports from Russia. The US Treasury Secretary justified it on the basis that India increased imports from Russia after the war and made a profit by selling oil again.

India surprised American argument
Jaishankar said that America had been saying for the last several years that India should help stabilize the world energy market, including buying oil from Russia. At the same time, India also buys oil from America, and its quantity has increased. In such a situation, India is surprised to understand American argument.

India-Russia relations strong- S Jaishankar
Jaishankar said that India and Russia are among the most stable relations in the world. He explained the importance of maintaining energy cooperation, trade and investment. Defense and military technical cooperation is also strong, and Russia cooperates in India’s ‘Make in India’ goals.

Measures to improve business balance
Jaishankar said that the two countries repeated a shared ambition to increase bilateral trade. Increasing India’s exports in areas such as agriculture, pharma and textile will help improve business imbalance.

India’s Russian Oil Import Policy
India is the second largest oil importer in Russia, after China. Oil imports have accelerated after the Russia-Ukraine War, and the US is considering it as a cause of punishment. PM Modi has appealed to end the war through repeated talks, and India’s oil imports are decided on the basis of national interest, availability and low prices.

There is a situation of tension between America and India. President Donald Trump imposed 50 percent tariff on India due to buying oil from Russia. Now Russia has come with India on this matter. He has said that it is wrong to put Trump’s India tariff. Roman Babushkin, Deputy Chief of the Russian Mission, said on Wednesday (August 20) that he was confident that India-Russia will continue to cooperate with energy cooperation despite external pressure.

Roman Babushkin said during the New Delhi press conference that this is a challenging situation for India and Russia trusts its relations with him. He said, “”No matter what happens, even during the challenges we are standing together to overcome any problem. President Putin recently made a phone call to give information about the Ukraine’s developments to Prime Minister Modi. This means that India matters a lot to Russia.

What Russia said about Indian products

It has also been said by Russia that if Indian products are banned in a country, then Russia welcomes it in its market. Along with this, India will also get oil. Actually, Trump had imposed a 25 percent tariff on India, but after that the tariff increased to 50 percent. Trump has trouble buying oil from Russia in India. India, while defending the purchase of Russian crude oil, had said that its energy purchase is going on keeping in mind the interest and market of the country.

What did Trump accuse India and Russia

After the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, western countries stopped the supply of crude oil by banning Russia, after which India started purchasing Russian oil at low prices. Trump had alleged that India was promoting the war by purchasing oil and directly blamed Russia for this.

Input – PTI