Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured U.S. President Donald Trump that India will no longer buy Russian oil, the U.S. leader said on Oct. 15.
“So I was not happy that India was buying oil, and (Modi) assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia. That’s a big step. Now we’re going to get China to do the same thing,” Trump said in the White House.
Washington previously imposed 50% tariffs on India for its continued import of Russian oil as Trump threatened to impose secondary sanctions on Russia’s trading partners if Moscow failed to make progress towards peace.
As the Kremlin refuses to engage in diplomatic means to cease hostilities, Kyiv and its allies have sought to reduce Russia’s oil revenues, which directly fund its war against Ukraine.
The U.S. leader noted that the process for India to stop flows of Russian oil will take time, but will be over shortly.
“There will be no oil, he’s not buying his oil from Russia, it started — you know, you can’t do it immediately, it’s a little bit of a process, but the process is going to be over with soon,” Trump said.
India has previously said it would not cut its imports of Russian oil, despite facing heavy U.S. tariffs for doing so.
“(Modi is) a friend of mine, we have a great relationship… we have a great relationship— no, we were not happy with him buying oil from Russia because that let Russia continue on with this ridiculous war, where they’ve lost a million and a half people,” Trump noted.
Indian officials previously reiterated to White House officials their position that New Delhi may curb Russian oil imports if trade is offset through the purchase of sanctioned Iranian and Venezuelan oil, Bloomberg reported on Sept. 25.
India accounted for 38% of Russian crude oil exports and 19% of Russia’s coal exports in the period from December 2022 until the end of June 2025, according to the Center for Research on Clean Energy and Clean Air.
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