New Delhi: The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) strongly denied any conversation between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump on Thursday, following Trump’s statement that India assured the US it would halt Russian oil purchases. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal clarified, “To the best of our knowledge, I am not aware of any conversation between PM Modi and President Trump yesterday.” Trump had earlier told reporters that Modi committed to ending Russian crude imports, framing it as progress towards resolving a trade dispute.
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India became a significant importer of Russian oil after the Ukraine war in 2022. Even though purchases dropped slightly last month, Russian crude still fills nearly a third of India’s overall imported oil basket. Amid pressure from Washington — especially after Trump imposed a 50 percent tariff on Indian goods citing New Delhi’s Russian oil buys from Russia — MEA sought to clarify that India's oil energy policy is guided by energy security and affordability.
“In a volatile energy scenario, it has been our consistent priority to safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer,” Jaiswal said Thursday. “Ensuring stable energy prices and secured supplies have been the twin goals of our energy policy. Our import policies are guided entirely by this objective,” the MEA said in a statement on Thursday.
The MEA emphasised broad-basing and diversifying energy sourcing to meet market realities. In the statement, the foreign affairs ministry chose not to comment on whether India is complying with Trump’s demands or not but said that discussions are ongoing to deepen bilateral energy cooperation with the US.
Prashant Vasisht, Senior Vice President and Co-Group Head of Corporate Ratings at ICRA Ltd, weighed in on India’s crude import strategy, “ICRA believes domestic refiners will purchase crude from various sources guided by economics and availability. While the overall volumes of Russian crude remain high, the discounts on Russian crude have been coming down owing to which the crudes from Middle East have become attractive because of the geographical proximity of the region to India”.
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Washington’s efforts to curb Russian oil flows have tested India-US relations, even as the two countries expand energy ties. After Trump’s comments, the MEA stopped short of confirming any policy change, pointing instead to an ongoing search for stable pricing and secure supply chains. “Where the US is concerned, we have for many years sought to expand our energy procurement… The current Administration has shown interest in deepening energy cooperation with India. Discussions are ongoing,” said the MEA in the statement.