‘Sanctions too broad, didn’t help find alternative source’: Ex-US NSA says tariffs for Russian oil on India backfired
Ex-NSA John Bolton said when the US put sanctions on Iran in 2018 after they withdrew from the US-Iran nuclear deal, Washington worked with other countries, gave them waivers and helped them find other sources of oil.
- Sep 10, 2025,
- Updated Sep 10, 2025 9:28 AM IST
The sanctions on India are too broad, said a former US National Security Adviser. Moreover, the US did not help India find an alternative source for their energy needs, which actually has precedent in Washington’s policies in the past, he added.
In an interview with Times Radio, ex-NSA John Bolton, said India did not violate any of the rules even as there are plenty of reasons for Washington to not like New Delhi’s decision to continue purchasing Russian oil. Bolton pointed out that the sanction on India was “too broad”.
“The sanction was too broad. If it's particular companies in India that are engaged in this purchase and resale, then look at what to do about them. But he's (Trump) now in effect sanctioned the entire Indian economy and shredded years of effort by the United States and others to pull India away from Russia and alert it to the dangers of China. So what was intended to put pressure on Russia and Ukraine has backfired in effect in a pretty significant way,” said Bolton.
“I don't think there's any doubt there's a huge negative impact on the US-India bilateral relationship. This is not the only thing that Trump has done that's caused it to go into a tail spin. I think ultimately it's correctable because India has to understand the difficulties that it still has with China. Nothing's changed there other than that at that meeting in Beijing, they were all irritated with the United States,” said Bolton. “The greater danger is that we've pushed them back toward Russia and that India will now double down on purchasing Russian oil and gas,” he added.
Bolton said when the US put sanctions on Iran in 2018 after they withdrew from the US-Iran nuclear deal, Washington worked with other countries, gave them waivers and helped them find other sources of oil. “Maybe they weren't quite as cheap as what they were buying from Iran, but at least it got them through the transition period. We could have tried that with India to pull it away from the cheaper Russian oil and gas, but apparently nothing was done in that regard. So again it's another example of a real missed opportunity that I think cost us both in the Ukraine conflict and in the broader struggle against the Russia-China axis, which I think is going to be our principal threat for the rest of the century.”
He said the US and EU wanted to reduce sales of Russian oil – “they didn't want to reduce it too much because they were afraid of restricting supply on international markets that would drive the price of gasoline at the pump higher” – and hence imposed the sanctions. “So what a number of companies in India did in particular was buy Russian gas below the ceiling price set by EU and other sanctions, refine it a little bit and then sell it at world market prices including back to Europe. You know you may not like it and there are plenty of reasons not to like it, but India didn't actually do anything in violation of the sanctions the way they were written.”
Bolton said that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit that saw PM Modi, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un along with Xi Jinping in attendance was a “real sign that Putin's got friends who are going to have his back”.
The sanctions on India are too broad, said a former US National Security Adviser. Moreover, the US did not help India find an alternative source for their energy needs, which actually has precedent in Washington’s policies in the past, he added.
In an interview with Times Radio, ex-NSA John Bolton, said India did not violate any of the rules even as there are plenty of reasons for Washington to not like New Delhi’s decision to continue purchasing Russian oil. Bolton pointed out that the sanction on India was “too broad”.
“The sanction was too broad. If it's particular companies in India that are engaged in this purchase and resale, then look at what to do about them. But he's (Trump) now in effect sanctioned the entire Indian economy and shredded years of effort by the United States and others to pull India away from Russia and alert it to the dangers of China. So what was intended to put pressure on Russia and Ukraine has backfired in effect in a pretty significant way,” said Bolton.
“I don't think there's any doubt there's a huge negative impact on the US-India bilateral relationship. This is not the only thing that Trump has done that's caused it to go into a tail spin. I think ultimately it's correctable because India has to understand the difficulties that it still has with China. Nothing's changed there other than that at that meeting in Beijing, they were all irritated with the United States,” said Bolton. “The greater danger is that we've pushed them back toward Russia and that India will now double down on purchasing Russian oil and gas,” he added.
Bolton said when the US put sanctions on Iran in 2018 after they withdrew from the US-Iran nuclear deal, Washington worked with other countries, gave them waivers and helped them find other sources of oil. “Maybe they weren't quite as cheap as what they were buying from Iran, but at least it got them through the transition period. We could have tried that with India to pull it away from the cheaper Russian oil and gas, but apparently nothing was done in that regard. So again it's another example of a real missed opportunity that I think cost us both in the Ukraine conflict and in the broader struggle against the Russia-China axis, which I think is going to be our principal threat for the rest of the century.”
He said the US and EU wanted to reduce sales of Russian oil – “they didn't want to reduce it too much because they were afraid of restricting supply on international markets that would drive the price of gasoline at the pump higher” – and hence imposed the sanctions. “So what a number of companies in India did in particular was buy Russian gas below the ceiling price set by EU and other sanctions, refine it a little bit and then sell it at world market prices including back to Europe. You know you may not like it and there are plenty of reasons not to like it, but India didn't actually do anything in violation of the sanctions the way they were written.”
Bolton said that the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit that saw PM Modi, Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un along with Xi Jinping in attendance was a “real sign that Putin's got friends who are going to have his back”.