‘India will not buy oil from Russia’: Trump says Modi assured him of ‘big step’

During a White House event, Trump said, “He’s a friend of mine, we have a great relationship…we have a great relationship – no, we were not happy with him buying oil from Russia because that let Russia continue on with this ridiculous war where they’ve lost a million and a half people.”

US President Trump said that Indian Prime Minister Modi told him that India will stop buying oil from Russia, a move Trump described as a ‘big step’ in efforts to isolate Moscow economically https://t.co/aYDDPEyx4W pic.twitter.com/aw1jn0bVjc

— Reuters (@Reuters) October 15, 2025

Oil and gas has reportedly been Russia’s biggest exports and biggest customers of Moscow’s crude has been China, India and Turkey, BBC reported.

Trump, while claiming that PM Modi assured him India would halt its Russian oil imports, said, “I was not happy that India was buying oil, and (Modi) assured me today that they will not be buying oil from Russia. That’s a big step. Now we’ve got to get China to do the same thing.”

However, there has been no confirmation from New Delhi that India will halt its Russian oil imports.

President Donald Trump’s administration has sought to leverage India’s purchases of Russian oil but the PM Modi led government resisted the US efforts, which triggered an additional 25% tariff being imposed on Indian goods in the United States. The Trump administration is also pushing Beijing and other trading partners to halt their Russian oil imports, in order to slash Moscow’s energy funding.

Trump said that India cannot “immediately” pause its oil shipments and that the shift will be “a little bit of a process, but the process is going to be over with soon,” BBC reported.

(with inputs from Reuters)