Russia says India has not sent any message on stopping oil purchases
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Moscow: Russia has not received any communication from India regarding a halt in purchases of Russian crude oil, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, February 3, according to Russian media reports.
Peskov added that Moscow intends to continue strengthening its relations with India “in every possible way,” dismissing speculation about any immediate change in energy trade ties between the two countries.
His remarks came a day after US President Donald Trump claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “agreed to stop buying Russian oil” and instead increase purchases from the United States and potentially Venezuela.
“Moscow has not yet received any statements about India halting purchases of oil,” Peskov was quoted as saying.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said that following his conversation with Prime Minister Modi on Monday, India and the United States had agreed to a trade deal under which Washington would lower reciprocal tariffs on New Delhi from 25 per cent to 18 per cent. Trump had last year imposed tariffs of up to 50 per cent on India, among the highest globally, including 25 per cent levies linked to India’s purchases of Russian energy.
India currently imports about 88 per cent of its crude oil requirements, which are refined into fuels such as petrol and diesel, from overseas suppliers.
Russian crude accounted for just 0.2 per cent of India’s total oil imports until 2021. However, India — the world’s third-largest oil importer — emerged as the largest buyer of discounted Russian crude after Western nations shunned Moscow following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
According to data from real-time analytics firm Kpler, India’s imports of Russian crude fell to around 1.1 million barrels per day in the first three weeks of January, down from an average of 1.21 million bpd in the previous month and more than 2 million bpd at their peak in mid-2025.
Iraq is now supplying nearly the same volume of crude oil to India, with shipments rising from an average of 9,04,000 bpd in December 2025, Kpler data showed. Imports from Saudi Arabia have also increased to about 9,24,000 bpd in January, up from 7,10,000 bpd in December and a low of 5,39,000 bpd recorded in April 2025.
With PTI inputs