Russia on Wednesday rejected the US move to place tariffs on India for its acquisition of Russian crude oil, characterizing it as "unjustified and unilateral" and reiterating that Moscow and New Delhi would keep pursuing their energy partnership "despite external pressure."
Addressing media personnel in New Delhi, Deputy Chief of Mission Roman Babushkin characterized the US move as a manifestation of how it has "weaponised the economy." He asserted, "friends don't impose sanctions, and Russia will never sanction India."
US President Donald Trump declared the US intends to impose an additional 25 per cent tariff on Indian imports from August 27, citing India's rising imports of Russian oil after the Western sanctions against Russian supplies after the Ukraine invasion. Significantly, the US has not imposed similar tariffs on China though it imports Russian oil.
Babushkin pointed out that Russia has created a "special mechanism" to guarantee uninterrupted crude supplies to India, which gets around 40 per cent of its oil from Moscow at an average discount of 5 per cent. He further added that India and Russia are still set to achieve $100 billion bilateral trade by 2030, with the aim of Moscow closing the trade deficit by encouraging Indian export of machinery, pharmaceuticals, tea, and rice. He further stated that Russia is still one of India's major suppliers of energy and fertilisers.
Discussing Western sanctions, Babushkin said the latest EU package will have little effect on Russia and once again said that India will not stop Russian oil purchases.
"We are determined to sit with India to discuss challenges and eliminate them," he said, adding that both countries are having deep conversations about small and modular reactors.
Russia is India's partner of choice in India, have developed together BrahMos cruise missile, are developing other advanced equipment, jet engines," Babushkin said. He added that President Vladimir Putin had spoken twice with Prime Minister Narendra Modi about the crisis in Ukraine, emphasizing, "India matters very much to us.
On larger geopolitical trends, Babushkin hailed the "very successful" visit of the Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to India as an important platform the Russia-India-China (RIC) mechanism. "We hope it will be resumed sooner rather than later," he further added.
He assured that Prime Minister Modi and President Putin will hold a bilateral meeting on the margins of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit in Tianjin, but no particular dates have been fixed for Putin's visit to India.
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