‘India has been great’: Trump says he spoke to PM Modi again, New Delhi will cut Russian oil to almost nothing

US President Donald Trump has said that he spoke to Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday and that India would cut down Russian oil to almost nothing by the end of the year. In contrast, China has been a bit different. He said China and Russia were never meant to be together but were forced together by former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden.

"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; that's a big thing. They were almost 40 percent of the oil. India, they've been great. Spoke to Prime Minister Modi yesterday. They've been absolutely great,” he told reporters.

Speaking about his upcoming meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Trump added, “China is a little bit different. They have a little different relationship with Russia. It was never good, but because of Biden and Obama, they got forced together. They should never have been forced together. By nature, they can’t be friends. They can't be friendly... I hope they are friendly, but they can't be... You should not have forced Russia and China together but Biden did that and Obama did that. They forced them together because of energy and oil. They are closer than they would normally be. I'll probably be talking about it.”

Trump said he would be talking to Xi about how to end the Russia-Ukraine war, and would discuss if oil or energy or any other factor would be considered to put pressure on Moscow.

Meanwhile, this is not the first time Trump said PM Modi assured him of reducing Russian oil purchases. The previous time, however, the Ministry of External Affairs refuted any such conversation between the leaders. "Ensuring stable energy prices and secured supplies have been the twin goals of our energy policy. This includes broad-basing our energy sourcing and diversifying as appropriate to meet market conditions," said spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.

Trump had then warned New Delhi that it would face “massive” tariffs – it is already subject to 50 per cent tariffs – if it did not halt Russian oil purchases. "He (PM Modi) told me, 'I’m not going to be doing the Russian oil thing.' But if they keep doing it, they’ll be paying massive tariffs," he had said. When asked about the Indian government’s response, Trump said, "But if they want to say that, then they’ll just continue to pay massive tariffs -- and they don’t want to do that."