ByKen Silverstein,
Senior Contributor.
India has spent the past two years transforming itself into one of the biggest buyers of Russian oil — a shift that has saved it billions while providing Moscow with a financial lifeline as it wages war in Ukraine. Now, a sharply worded letter from Ukrainian MP Oleksii Goncharenko raises the stakes, arguing that India’s bargain barrels are helping prolong the conflict and calling for Europe to sanction Mukesh Ambani, the billionaire whose refinery empire processes a large share of those Russian flows.
That letter, sent by Ukrainian MP Oleksii Goncharenko, is not likely to alter India’s energy calculus. However, it highlights a deeper geopolitical tension: India is attempting to shield its domestic economy from global shocks while simultaneously increasing its reliance on Russian oil. The more entrenched that relationship becomes, the more challenging it will be for India to manage the diplomatic fallout.
Iuliia Mendel, former press secretary to President Zelensky, told me that Kyiv is growing frustrated that India’s discounted Russian oil purchases extend Russia’s ability to fund its war—a concern Goncharenko made explicit in a letter to Indian officials: “Every discounted barrel India buys is another day Russia can afford to fight.”
