 "US, EU hypocrisy on India’s purchase of Russian oil comes to surface")
Five meetings, nine phone calls and Kremlin-bound Abbott Point of Care Covid test machines in his first presidency. Seven phone calls post-presidency. And six calls during his second presidency.
That’s Donald Trump’s saga of apparent one-sided bromance with Vladimir Putin since 2016. The US president even praised his Russian counterpart for being a “genius” and “very savvy” after he recognised the Ukrainian breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in February 2022.
However, Trump’s effusive praise of Putin has suddenly given way to anger and disappointment. Now, Trump is visibly “very angry” and “pissed off” at the “bullshit” thrown by “crazy” Putin.
Trump’s bid to first cajole and then coerce Putin into ending the Ukraine War resulted in a disaster with the Russian president dismissing his ceasefire proposal and the threats of more sanctions. American and European sanctions and arming Ukraine to the teeth have failed to deter Putin in his Ukraine mission.
Left with no choice after his insane and bombastic claim in 2024 to end the war in 24 hours if he won the election, Trump turned his ire to ally India and adversary China to hit Russia economically.
Oil. Yes, for the US, it always boils down to this precious commodity.
The recent statement by the Indian high commissioner to the UK, Vikram Doraiswami, that India can’t “ switch off its economy” by stopping imports of Russian oil is a blunt and apt reply to American threats.
“We import over 80 per cent of our product. What would you have us do? Switch off our economy,” Doraiswami told British radio station, Times Radio, last week.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe US started targeting India, the world’s third-largest oil-consuming and importing nation and the second-largest importer of Russian oil, during the Joe Biden administration. One month after Russia invaded Ukraine, Biden told Prime Minister Narendra Modi that it wasn’t in India’s interest to buy more oil from Russia and could hamper Washington’s response to the war.
External affairs minister S Jaishankar shot back.
“Is that a problem? Why should that be a problem? If I am smart enough to have multiple options, you should be admiring me,” he quipped when asked about India’s growing ties with the US on one hand and buying Russian oil on the other at the recent Munich Security Conference.
When asked about the purchase of discounted Russian crude, he said that India “stabilised the energy market” because Europe was paying higher prices to Middle East oil exporters after the Western cap of $60 per barrel on Russian oil on December 5, 2022.
India’s dependence on oil imports
India heavily depends on crude oil imports to meet domestic consumption. Crude oil imports jumped from 189.43 million tonnes (MT) in FY 2014-15 to 226.95 MT in FY 2019-20. After decreasing to 196.46 MT during the pandemic in 2020-21, crude oil imports increased to 234.26 MT in 2023-24.
In the financial year 2023-24, India’s crude oil dependency was around 89 per cent, natural gas 46.60 per cent and coal 25.86 per cent.
India, which traditionally imported oil from West Asia, switched to Russia after the Ukraine War with Moscow selling oil at a discount of $18-$20 per barrel to counter US and European sanctions. Within a short time, Russia’s share in India’s total crude oil imports galloped from 1 per cent to 40-44 per cent.
According to vessel tracking data from global commodity market analytics firm Kpler, India imported 2.08 million barrels per day (bpd) of Russian crude in June, the highest since July 2024 and more than the combined volumes from West Asian suppliers like Iraq and Saudi Arabia. As of July, Russian oil accounts for 42 per cent of total oil imports.
The value of Russian oil imported by India since the Ukraine War is around Rs 1.5 lakh crore, per European think tank Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).
US, NATO threaten India publicly
Trump’s golfing buddy and friend, senator Lindsey Graham (South Carolina), threatened to slap a 500 per cent tariff on India and China.
Graham said that he was sponsoring a tough new sanctions Bill on Russia that had 84 co-sponsors. The legislation, which he said was proposed in March and should be brought forward for a vote after August, “would allow the president to put tariffs on China and India and other countries to get them—stop them from supporting Putin’s war machine, to get him to the table”.
“If you’re buying products from Russia and you’re not helping Ukraine, then there’s a 500 per cent tariff on your products coming into the United States. India and China buy 70 per cent of Putin’s oil. They keep his war machine going,” he told ABC News.
Early this month, Trump announced new weapons for Ukraine and threatened to slap “biting” secondary tariffs of 100 per cent on nations buying Russian oil unless Putin agrees to a peace deal in 50 days. Now, Trump has announced a new deadline of 10-12 days.
Subsequently, Graham took his threats to a different level by saying that the US would “tear up the hell out of you [India and China] and “crush your economy”.
Graham told Fox News that the Trump administration was planning to impose a 100 per cent tariff on oil-related imports from Russia.
“Trump is going to impose tariffs on people that buy Russian oil—China, India and Brazil… Here’s what I would tell China, India and Brazil: If you keep buying cheap Russian oil to allow this war to continue, we’re going to tear up the hell out of you, and we’re going to crush your economy,” he said. “What you (India, China and Brazil) are doing is blood money.”
The West’s hypocrisy was further on display when NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, who has bent backwards to appease Trump since taking charge, threatened India, China and Brazil with a 100 per cent tariff.
“If you are the President of China, the Prime Minister of India or the President of Brazil and you’re still trading with the Russians and buying their oil and gas, know that if that guy in Moscow doesn’t take peace negotiations seriously, I will impose secondary sanctions of 100 per cent,” he told reporters after meeting US lawmakers.
Europe has provided military assistance worth €59.6 billion to Ukraine but has failed to stop the Russian aggression. Like Trump, who has abysmally failed to stop Putin, the desperate NATO chief is coercing nations not part of its Cold War 2.0 with Russia.
“My encouragement to these three countries… please make the phone call to Vladimir Putin and tell him that he has to get serious about peace talks because otherwise this will slam back on Brazil, on India and on China in a massive way.”
Such threats border on insanity and are ridiculous as NATO is a military alliance with no powers to slap sanctions on other nations.
India gave a befitting reply to NATO. “Let me reiterate that securing the energy needs of our people is understandably an overriding priority for us. … We would particularly caution against any double standards on the matter,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.
The European Union (EU) is the latest to target India. The 18th EU sanctions package, which lowered the crude price cap from $60 a barrel to $47.6, effective September 3, targeted Russia-backed Nayara Energy—with Rosneft’s 49.13 per cent stake—and its Vadinar refinery (Gujarat).
The next cap is set at 15 per cent below the average market price for Russian Urals and is subject to review every six months. The EU also banned imports of refined products made from Russian crude.
The Vadinar refinery, India’s third largest, which relies heavily on Russian crude (around 72 per cent this year) to make petroleum products and has a capacity of 400,000 bpd, was impacted.
The sanctions on Nayara have started to affect its operations.
First, Microsoft has restricted access to Nayara’s data, tools and products. Nayara has filed a petition against Microsoft before the Delhi High Court seeking an interim injunction and resumption of services.
Second, the owners of three clean product tankers chartered by Nayara have asked the company to end their contracts, according to Reuters. India-based Seven Islands Shipping’s Bourbon is anchored near Vadinar port and Courage off Kochi port, per Kpler data. Great Eastern Shipping’s Jag Pooja is anchored at Ennore port.
India again opposed the “unilateral sanctions” and pointed to the West’s “double standards”.
“India does not subscribe to any unilateral sanction measures. We are a responsible actor and remain fully committed to legal obligations,” Jaiswal said.
“The government of India considers the provision of energy security of paramount importance to meet the basic needs of its citizens. We would stress that there should be no double standards, especially when it comes to energy trade.”
West’s Russian oil hypocrisy in targeting India
The West is infamous for its double standards. On one hand, it pretends to be an advocate of democracy. On the other hand, the US and its European allies have ruined Afghanistan and Iraq and continue to interfere in West Asia.
The West’s stance on Russian oil sanctions, especially targeting India and China, smacks of the same hypocrisy.
From February 2022 to February 2025, Russia earned $939 billion from fossil fuel exports, thrice the amount of aid received by Ukraine, $309 billion, according to CREA. Russia earned $335 billion from fossil fuel exports to NATO members versus $236 billion of aid given to Ukraine. The figures for the sanctioning states and EU members were $253 billion vs $239 and $233 billion vs $73 billion, respectively.
In the third year of the war, EU imports of Russian fossil fuels were largely unchanged, €21.9 billion—surpassing the €18.7 billion of financial aid—a six per cent YoY drop in value but only one per cent YoY drop in volumes.
The EU spent €7 billion on Russian LNG in the third year of the invasion with volumes rising by nine per cent YoY. G7-plus countries imported €18 billion worth of oil products from six refineries in India and Turkey, of which around €9 billion was refined from Russian crude, generating an estimated €4 billion in revenues for Russia.
According to CREA’s analysis of Russian fossil fuel exports and sanctions in June, the EU was the largest buyer of Russian LNG at 51 per cent, followed by China (21 per cent) and Japan (18 per cent).
The EU was also the largest buyer of Russian pipeline gas at 37 per cent, followed by China (30 per cent) and Turkey (27 per cent).
The CREA data also showed that the EU was the fourth-largest buyer of Russian fossil fuels, worth €1.47 billion. Its imports accounted for 10 per cent of the top five purchasers. Around 50 per cent of these imports were Russian LNG valued at €728 million.
Shockingly, the top five European importers of Russian fossil fuels in June are NATO members.
Hungary, Belgium, France, Slovakia and the Netherlands paid a total of €1.2 billion to purchase Russian fossil fuels. The EU has cleverly not sanctioned natural gas, which accounts for more than 72 per cent of these imports and is mainly delivered by pipeline or as liquefied gas. To import crude oil to Hungary and Slovakia, the EU exempted the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline from sanctions.
Hungary was the largest importer of Russian fossil fuels valued at €356 million, including €165 million of crude oil and €191 million of pipeline gas.
Belgium was second, purchasing fossil fuels, mainly LNG, totalling €300 million. Belgium’s imports of LNG from Russia jumped by 12 per cent MoM.
France, the third-largest buyer, imported Russian fossil fuels—all LNG—worth €232 million.
Slovakia was fourth, purchasing Russian crude (81 per cent of all imports) €178 million.
The Netherlands exclusively imported Russian LNG worth €99 million in June.
Rutte conveniently ignored the massive imports of Russian fossil fuels by these NATO member states while criticising and threatening India and China.
Double standards in sanctioning Nayara Energy
The US hypocrisy in targeting India for purchasing Russian crude was exposed in March when CREA data showed that America imported $192 million of refined oil (petroleum products), of which $135 million was from Vadinar refinery, between January 2024 and January 2025.
CREA found that the refineries at Jamnagar, Vadinar and Mangalore had increased imports of Russian crude and were exporting refined products to Western markets.
While Western experts describe it as a “loophole”, it’s a tactic to import petroleum products even if they are made from Russian crude.
The EU ban on imports of refined products made from Russian crude, especially by Nayara Energy, will come into force from January 21, 2026, not this month. The EU was smart enough not to enforce the ban immediately as the Ukraine War could end by next year.
Moreover, the ban doesn’t apply to imports from Canada, Norway, Switzerland, the UK and the US, which again leaves a so-called loophole to continue importing petroleum products made from Russian crude.
The EU ban is a clear attempt to penalise countries that are outside Europe while allowing its allies to continue importing products refined from Russian crude oil.
The writer is a freelance journalist with more than two decades of experience and comments primarily on foreign affairs. He tweets as @FightTheBigots. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the writer. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.
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