India’s purchase of Russian oil has to stop, says US trade adviser

The US official says India’s import was giving Moscow ‘the dollars it needs’ as he accused New Delhi of cozying up to China and Russia.

White House trade adviser Peter Navarro says India’s purchases of Russian crude oil are funding Moscow’s war in Ukraine and have to stop, as Washington ramps up pressure on New Delhi to cut off its energy imports from Russia.

“India acts as a global clearinghouse for Russian oil, converting embargoed crude into high-value exports while giving Moscow the dollars it needs,” Navarro wrote in an opinion piece published in the Financial Times on Monday.

He added that India’s dependence on Russian crude is “opportunistic and deeply corrosive of the world’s efforts to isolate Putin’s war economy”.

India is the second-largest buyer of Russian oil, after China, and more than 30 percent of its fuel is sourced from Moscow, providing revenue to the Kremlin amid Western sanctions.