Indian Ministry of Finance: the country will continue to purchase Russian oil

India does not intend to abandon the import of Russian oil, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said. Thus, New Delhi is demonstrating its willingness to ignore the calls of former US President Donald Trump to stop purchases.

«Where we buy oil from, one of the largest items of foreign exchange expenses, we must decide based on what is more profitable for us. We will certainly continue to buy,» Sitharaman stressed.

India remains the world's largest buyer of Russian oil supplied by sea. Discounted supplies, which were abandoned by Western countries after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, allowed the world's third largest oil consumer to reduce import costs.

This position of New Delhi displeases the Trump administration, which previously doubled tariffs on imports from India to 50%. Last Friday, Trump again criticized India and Russia for strengthening their relations with China.

This week, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin met with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the SCO summit in Tianjin, where they discussed expanding cooperation in the energy and security spheres.