A top aide to President Trump on Sunday accused India of financing Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine by purchasing oil from Moscow, remarks that come days ahead of possible White House action to impose major sanctions on countries buying Russian oil. <\/p>\n
“What he [Trump] said very clearly is that it is not acceptable for India to continue financing this war by purchasing the oil from Russia,” said Stephen Miller, deputy chief of staff at the White House and one of Trump’s most influential aides.<\/p>\n
“People will be shocked to learn that India is basically tied with China in purchasing Russian oil. That’s an astonishing fact,” Miller said<\/a> on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump threatened last week a 25 percent tariff on India over its purchase of Russian oil, which is set to go into effect on Aug. 7, a White House official told The Hill. A bipartisan bill in the Senate calls for a 500 percent tariff on India if Russia fails to halt its war against Ukraine, but sponsors of the bill said they would support Trump imposing one-fifth<\/a> of that penalty.\u00a0<\/p>\n While some state-owned refineries reportedly paused Russian oil imports<\/a> in the wake of Trump\u2019s threat, India\u2019s Foreign Ministry on Saturday signaled it was not going to accept conditions on which countries it sources energy from.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe take decisions based on the price at which oil is available in the international market and depending on the global situation at that time,\u201d Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Indian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, told reporters<\/a> Friday.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cAs far as India-Russia relations are concerned, we have a steady and time-tested partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n India bought 68,000 barrels per day of crude oil from Russia in January 2022, but by June of that year, oil imports rose to 1.12 million barrels per day, The Associated Press reported<\/a>. The daily imports peaked at 2.15 million in May 2023 and have varied since.\u00a0<\/p>\n The country began increasing its imports of Russian oil after an international price cap \u2014 imposed to punish Russia over its war in Ukraine \u2014 made it a more affordable option over imports of oil from the Middle East.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A top aide to President Trump on Sunday accused India of financing Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine by purchasing oil from Moscow, remarks that come days ahead of possible White House<\/p>\n