"That’s a big step": Trump announced that India will stop buying oil from Russia
Trump's announcement comes two months after he announced that the tariffs he had imposed on India would increase by 25 percent, explaining at the time that such a move was taking place due to the crude oil purchases that the Modi government had been executing.
Trump in the Oval Office/ Mandel Ngan
President Donald Trump said Wednesday at the White House that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi assured him that his government would stop buying Russian oil, in a move that could prove decisive in the Russia-Ukraine war by putting strong pressure on the Kremlin. "I was not happy that India was buying oil. And he assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia. That’s a big step. Now we got to get China to do the same thing," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. Asked when this change would materialize, the Republican leader noted that it will happen "within a short period of time."
Trump's announcement comes two months after he announced that the tariffs he had imposed on India would increase by 25 percent, explaining at the time that such a move was due to the Modi government's purchases of Russian oil. The tariffs against India were thus raised to 50 percent in total, thus becoming one of the countries most punished by the Republican administration's tariff onslaught.
Trump went so far as to explain at the time that New Delhi's purchases of Russian oil served to finance the Kremlin's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, calling at the time for countries in Europe to redouble their efforts to limit their own purchases of Russian crude. The move increased tensions between the Trump and Modi administrations, to the point where the latter went so far as to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin, in a gesture that many saw as a clear challenge to the U.S. government.
More pressure against Russia
In response, the official spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, stated that the acquisition of Tomahawks by Ukraine "would take the confrontation into a downward spiral." In that vein, the official stated, "We are closely following the situation and call for extreme restraint in this sensitive issue, which can significantly complicate efforts to resolve the conflict in Ukraine. We hope that Washington hears our message."
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