Journalism of Courage
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday reiterated his claims about India stopping its Russian oil purchase and claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has assured him that New Delhi would gradually stop buying oil from Moscow by the “end of the year” as the US imposed new sanctions on Russia’s top oil companies.
The US president, while announcing new sanctions against two top Russian oil firms – Rosneft and Lukoil, said during a meeting with NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte that he “felt it was time. We waited a long time.” Trump had signalled for weeks that he might impose punitive measures against Moscow if the country doesn’t agree to end the war in Ukraine.
Responding to a reporter in Washington about India’s oil purchase from Russia, Trump said, “India, as you know, has told me they are going to stop…It’s a process. You can’t just stop (buying oil from Russia). By the end of the year, they’ll be down to almost nothing, almost 40% of the oil. India, they’ve been great. Spoke to Prime Minister Modi yesterday. They’ve been absolutely great.”
Responding to a question about sanctions imposed on Russian oil companies, Trump said, “Today is a very big day in terms of what we’re doing. Look, these are tremendous sanctions. We would like to see them just take the line that has been formed over quite a long period of time and go…home. Last week they had almost 8,000 soldiers killed. Many Russians were killed last week. Many Ukrainians were killed this week. We think it’s ridiculous, and we’d like to have it end.”
Trump had earlier claimed that he had been assured by PM Modi during a phone call that New Delhi would stop buying oil from Russia, though the claim was contested by the Ministry of External Affairs. In a statement last week, the MEA had said, “As far as a telephone or a conversation between the two leaders, there was no phone call between the two leaders yesterday”.
The US Treasury Department, meanwhile, announced new sanctions against Russia’s oil firms, including Rosneft and Lukoil as they alleged that these oil companies fund Russia’s war machinery in Ukraine.
In a statement on Wednesday, the Treasury Department said, “The US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is imposing further sanctions as a result of Russia’s lack of serious commitment to a peace process to end the war in Ukraine.”
