Russia backs India, slams Trump’s tariff threat over oil trade

The Kremlin on Tuesday came out strongly against US President Donald Trump’s warning that India could face higher tariffs for continuing to buy Russian oil, calling such pressure tactics “illegitimate.”

Trump’s latest ultimatum gives Moscow until Friday to show meaningful movement toward a peace deal with Kyiv, or face fresh economic penalties. Those sanctions, he suggested, could extend to countries like India that have remained key buyers of Russian energy -- still a major source of funding for the war in Ukraine.

In a speech on Monday, Trump directly threatened India with new tariffs, prompting a sharp response from New Delhi, which labelled any such move “unjustified and unreasonable.”


On Tuesday, Russia echoed that view.

“Sovereign countries have the right to choose their own trading partners,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters, as per AFP.

Without naming the US president, Peskov criticised attempts to “force countries to sever trading relations” with Russia, calling them “illegitimate.”

Western allies of Ukraine have long targeted Russia’s energy revenues in a bid to squeeze its war economy. But since the 2022 invasion, Moscow has managed to reroute much of its oil and gas exports to Asia, with India and China stepping up as major buyers -- keeping vital funds flowing into Russian coffers.

Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has not imposed any new sanctions on Moscow. Instead, he has pushed for direct talks between Russia and Ukraine, something that hadn’t happened for over three years. But despite three rounds of negotiations in Istanbul, no real progress has been made on the diplomatic front.