New Delhi: Russia’s oil supplies to India will continue on the pre-American tariff increase under a ‘very special mechanism’ for rough trade despite the pressure of the Trump administration and the threat of fresh penalty duties, officials at the country’s embassy said here, and the movements of Washington considered “unjustified”. Russian offer accounts for almost 40% of the total import of crude oil in India, and Washington has accused New -Delhi of having ‘profitable’ of discounted prices. Embassy officials addressed the media here on Wednesday. “Despite the political situation, we can predict the same level of oil input (by India),” said Roman Babushkin, the charge of the Russian embassy in India. Babushkin noted that Russia was a major oil producer and that India’s oil question was growing every year, and it said it was a perfect case of mutual accommodation. Evgeniy Griva, Russia’s deputy trade representative in India, said the country’s oil supply is very important for the Indian economy. “There is a mechanism to provide crude oil (to India). Now we can’t discuss it … There is a very special mechanism,” Griva said. The development comes a day after US Treasury Secretary Scott Besent, in a television interview, accused India of being profitable during the war in Ukraine and describing the practice as arbitrage. “They are just profitable. They sell again, “Besent in an interview told CNBC. The US imposed a 25% tariff on Indian consignments and announced another 25% of the duties with effect from August 27 due to the country’s purchases of Oil from Russia, which was fueled for its war with Ukraine. Russian oil occupies about 7% of daily global oil consumption and 36% of India’s oil imports. On the back of deep discounts of Russia from February 2022, after the invasion of Ukraine, the country became the top supplier of India. Earlier, Russia provided only about 2.5% of India’s oil imports. China and India are top buyers of Russian oil. Babushkin also said if Indian goods had trouble entering the US market, Russian market India’s exports would take out exports. He also said India and Russia are at an advanced stage of discussions for cooperation in small modular reactors. India wants to improve its nuclear power generation capacity and there is a special focus on such modular reactors to achieve energy security and carbon emissions.
Russian oil sales to India to continue under ‘special mechanism’ despite US threats, Embassy officials say
