'Why take Trump's Russian oil point seriously?': Kanwal Sibal responds to Nikki Haley
Nikki Haley urged India to take US President Donald Trump's criticism of Russian oil imports "seriously."
- Aug 24, 2025,
- Updated Aug 24, 2025 3:51 PM IST
Former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal on Sunday responded to former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley's remarks on India's Russian oil imports, calling the issue "totally extraneous" to both the Ukraine conflict and India-US ties. Haley urged India to take US President Donald Trump's criticism of Russian oil imports "seriously."
"Why should India take Trump's point over Russia seriously?" Kanwal asked. "This is not an issue either germane to the Ukraine conflict or India-U.S. ties. This is a totally extraneous issue injected into India-U.S. bilateral ties."
He argued that Trump's position was inconsistent with his own outreach to Moscow. "Cynically so because Trump seeks to reset ties with Russia, has invited Putin to Alaska, Exxon is being invited to resume its involvement in Sakhalin. Trump doesn't want Ukraine and Europe to interfere in his outreach to Russia, but he is interfering in India's relations with Russia," he stated.
Sibal further questioned why India was being singled out. "Worse, China is the biggest buyer of Russian oil and gas but Trump wants a ‘beautiful deal’ with China. Europe buys more gas, oil and refined oil products from Russia than India does, but he has not announced tariff penalties on them," he added.
Haley, in her remarks, stressed that the US-India relationship needed repair. "India must take Trump's point over Russian oil seriously, and work with the White House to find a solution. As for the United States, the most urgent priority should be to reverse the downward spiral, which will require direct talks between President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The sooner the better," she said.
She argued that decades of ties between the two countries provided a strong base for cooperation. "Navigating challenging issues like trade disagreements and Russian oil imports demand hard dialogue, but difficult conversations are often the sign of a deepening partnership," Haley said.
The exchange comes amid heightened friction between New Delhi and Washington. On Saturday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that while Trump had criticised India's Russian oil imports publicly, his administration had not raised the issue in private. "After January (when Trump was sworn in), there were no conversations with the current administration saying: Don’t do that (buy Russian oil),” Jaishankar said.
Recalling 2022, Jaishankar said US officials had privately welcomed India's decision to buy Russian crude. "In 2022, there was deep nervousness because oil prices went up… And there were a set of conversations with different people in the American administration at that time that if India wanted to buy Russian oil, that’s fine by us, because it will stabilise the price of oil," he said.
Former Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal on Sunday responded to former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley's remarks on India's Russian oil imports, calling the issue "totally extraneous" to both the Ukraine conflict and India-US ties. Haley urged India to take US President Donald Trump's criticism of Russian oil imports "seriously."
"Why should India take Trump's point over Russia seriously?" Kanwal asked. "This is not an issue either germane to the Ukraine conflict or India-U.S. ties. This is a totally extraneous issue injected into India-U.S. bilateral ties."
He argued that Trump's position was inconsistent with his own outreach to Moscow. "Cynically so because Trump seeks to reset ties with Russia, has invited Putin to Alaska, Exxon is being invited to resume its involvement in Sakhalin. Trump doesn't want Ukraine and Europe to interfere in his outreach to Russia, but he is interfering in India's relations with Russia," he stated.
Sibal further questioned why India was being singled out. "Worse, China is the biggest buyer of Russian oil and gas but Trump wants a ‘beautiful deal’ with China. Europe buys more gas, oil and refined oil products from Russia than India does, but he has not announced tariff penalties on them," he added.
Haley, in her remarks, stressed that the US-India relationship needed repair. "India must take Trump's point over Russian oil seriously, and work with the White House to find a solution. As for the United States, the most urgent priority should be to reverse the downward spiral, which will require direct talks between President Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The sooner the better," she said.
She argued that decades of ties between the two countries provided a strong base for cooperation. "Navigating challenging issues like trade disagreements and Russian oil imports demand hard dialogue, but difficult conversations are often the sign of a deepening partnership," Haley said.
The exchange comes amid heightened friction between New Delhi and Washington. On Saturday, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that while Trump had criticised India's Russian oil imports publicly, his administration had not raised the issue in private. "After January (when Trump was sworn in), there were no conversations with the current administration saying: Don’t do that (buy Russian oil),” Jaishankar said.
Recalling 2022, Jaishankar said US officials had privately welcomed India's decision to buy Russian crude. "In 2022, there was deep nervousness because oil prices went up… And there were a set of conversations with different people in the American administration at that time that if India wanted to buy Russian oil, that’s fine by us, because it will stabilise the price of oil," he said.