&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "'We don’t want to punish India': US tells India to buy oil from 'anywhere, just not Russia'")
US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright has said that while India is free to buy oil from any country in the world, it should not be sourcing it from Russia. Speaking at a press conference, Wright argued that New Delhi’s decision to purchase discounted Russian oil amounted to indirectly funding Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
India making a trade-off, says Wright
“There are lots of oil exporters in the world. India doesn’t need to buy Russian oil. India buys Russian oil because it is cheaper. Nobody wants to buy Russian oil; they have to sell it at a discount. India has decided to make the trade-off to buy cheaper oil and look the other way, which is giving money to a guy who’s murdering thousands of people every week,” Wright said.
He added that the US was not trying to “punish” India, but instead wanted to stop the conflict. “We wish India would work with us to buy (oil). You can buy oil from every nation on the earth, just not Russian oil. That’s our position. America has oil to sell, so does everybody else. We don’t want to punish India. We want to end the war, and we want to grow our relations with India,” he said.
US tariffs and Trump’s warning
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Wright’s comments follow US President Donald Trump’s recent comments at the UN, where he accused India and China of being the “primary funders” of Russia’s war. Trump’s administration has already imposed 50 per cent tariffs on India, with half of that penalty linked to its energy trade with Moscow.
Echoing Trump’s reasoning, Wright said that India, China and Turkey were buying Russia’s sanctioned oil, which in turn was fuelling the war. “President Trump’s greatest passion is peace in the world… The Russian war in Ukraine, of course, is brutal. We all want to see it come to an end. But where does the sanctioned Russian oil go? It goes to China, India, and Turkiye and that helps Russia fund that war,” he said.
‘Huge fan of India’
Despite the sharp warning, Wright also sought to emphasise Washington’s desire to strengthen ties with New Delhi. “I am a huge fan of India. We love India. We look forward to more energy trade, more interactions back and forth with India,” he said, while noting that India was “caught up in the middle of another issue,” in reference to Ukraine.
India, for its part, has defended its Russian oil imports as a market-driven decision, insisting that its purchases are based on affordability and energy security. Despite tensions, trade talks between Washington and New Delhi are back on track.
