Former U.S. President Donald Trump announced significant changes in India’s policy regarding the import of Russian oil after discussing trade issues and possible ways to end the war in Ukraine with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
This is reported by Kyiv24
India’s Shift in Energy Priorities
According to Trump, India has agreed to significantly reduce its purchases of Russian oil and increase its imports of oil from the United States and possibly Venezuela. He believes this move will help reduce funding for military actions in Ukraine and could be a crucial factor in ending the war.
“He agreed to stop buying Russian oil and to buy much more oil from the United States and possibly from Venezuela. This will help end the war in Ukraine, which is currently ongoing and in which thousands of people are dying every week!” – he wrote on the social media platform Truth Social.
In addition to energy issues, the parties agreed on a new trade deal, which, according to Trump, took effect immediately. It includes a reduction of mutual tariffs from 25% to 18%, as well as a gradual elimination of tariff and non-tariff barriers from India. Prime Minister Modi also confirmed India’s intention to increase purchases of American goods, including energy resources, technology, agricultural products, and coal.
India Prepares to Reduce Purchases of Russian Oil
According to sources, India has already announced its intention to cut imports of Russian crude oil by several hundred thousand barrels per day in the coming months. This decision is a result of increased tariffs imposed by Washington on transactions related to the purchase of Russian oil, as well as U.S. efforts to provide India with alternative supplies, particularly from Venezuela.
India has become the largest buyer of discounted Russian seaborne crude oil since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Prior to this, the Indian market had hardly imported oil from Russia, focusing instead on supplies from Middle Eastern countries. The shift to purchasing Russian oil occurred against the backdrop of the G7 countries imposing a price cap of $60 per barrel and India’s avoidance of importing crude oil from Iran and Venezuela due to U.S. sanctions.
India’s Minister of Oil Hardeep Singh Puri stated that the country continues to diversify its energy sources. According to sources, India is already preparing to reduce its purchases of Russian oil to below one million barrels per day, while in January 2026, this figure was around 1.2 million barrels per day.