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India on Saturday “welcomed” the meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska and “appreciated the progress made”. Meanwhile, before his meeting with Putin, Trump indicated that the US may not impose secondary tariffs on countries continuing to procure Russian crude oil.
There were apprehensions that additional secondary tariffs would have hit India in case the US decided to enforce them. India faces a 50 per cent US tariff — including 25 per cent as “penalty” for buying Russian oil — and therefore had a clear stake on the outcome of the meeting. US officials, including the Treasury Secretary, have warned that in case there is no deal, an even higher penalty may be imposed.
“Well, he (Russian President Vladimir Putin) lost an oil client, so to speak, which is India, which was doing about 40 per cent of the oil. China, as you know, is doing a lot…And if I did what’s called a secondary sanction, or a secondary tariff, it would be very devastating from their standpoint. If I have to do it, I’ll do it. Maybe I won’t have to do it,” Trump said.
He made the remarks in an interview with Fox News aboard Air Force One en route to Alaska for the meeting with Putin.
“India welcomes the Summit meeting in Alaska between US President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin of Russia. Their leadership in the pursuit of peace is highly commendable… India appreciates the progress made in the Summit. The way forward can only be through dialogue and diplomacy. The world wants to see an early end to the conflict in Ukraine,” Randhir Jaiswal, the Ministry of External Affairs’ official spokesperson, said soon after the Trump-Putin meeting.
Trump briefed European leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about his conversation with Putin.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy later called up External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and briefed him on the Ukraine discussions. “Appreciate the call from UK FS @DavidLammy. Our discussions covered the recent Ukraine developments and other issues,” Jaishankar posted on X.
On Friday, Zelenskyy had wished Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Independence Day and recalled his telephone conversation earlier in the week. “Our nations share the experience of standing up for freedom and dignity, as well as the pursuit of peace and development. We hope that India will contribute to efforts aimed at ending the war, so that our freedom and sovereignty are truly secure,” he had said.
For India, it was a night on the edge. South Block tracked the Alaska meeting closely, and Indian interlocutors will be reaching out to their American, Russian and European counterparts — Lammy’s call was one of the first – to get a sense of what happened behind closed doors.
Trump seems to believe that his decision to slap 25 per cent “penalty” on India brought Russia to the table. On Wednesday, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had said that if “things don’t go well” between Trump and Putin at the meeting, then secondary sanctions on India for purchasing Russian oil could increase.
But a glimmer of hope did seem to appear in Putin’s statement that the agreements reached in Alaska “will be the starting point for resolving the Ukraine issue” and improving Russia-US relations.
Trump himself described the meeting as “productive”. But he acknowledged that the two leaders fell short, at least for now. “We haven’t quite got there, but we’ve made some headway…There’s no deal until there’s a deal,” he said.
For New Delhi, this little headway is important — and offers some hope of the pressure easing.
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