India to defy Trump's threats and keep buying Russian oil, government sources say
Officials in India, the most populous country on Earth, told Reuters and
That contradicted a statement from Trump, who on Friday told reporters his understanding was that India would 'no longer' be buying oil from Russia.
"These are long-term oil contracts," an unnamed Indian official told Reuters. "It is not so simple to just stop buying overnight.'
Last week, Trump said India would face unspecified penalties for buying Russian oil in addition to a 25 percent tariff on goods. However, China and Turkey, two countries that also purchase large amounts of Russian oil, have not faced similar penalty threats.
India drastically increased its import of Russian oil after the Kremlin invaded Ukraine in 2022, while many other countries began to cut back it's imports. The cheap availability of Russian oil allowed India to reduce its reliance on other countries, such as Saudi Arabia or Iraq, who typically sell to Asian countries at a higher price.
While India faced criticisms for doing so, the general consensus around India's increase in imports has been that it helps avoid a global surge in oil prices.
It's unclear why exactly Trump has targeted India in reducing its import of Russian oil. The president has recently expressed frustrations with Russian President Vladimir Putin for failing to come to the peace talks table to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine.
On Friday, India's external affairs spokesperson Randdhir Jaiswal said India and Russia had a 'time-tested partnership' and that India was analyzing its energy sourcing.
"On our energy sourcing requirements ... we look at what is there available in the markets, what is there on offer, and also what is the prevailing global situation or circumstances," Jaiswal said, according to Reuters.
India heavily relies on energy imports to sustain the needs of it's more than one billion population. It imports more than one million barrels per day.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Metro
24 minutes ago
- Metro
Anti-migrant mob surround Uber Eats rider to stop delivery to Canary Wharf hotel
A takeaway delivery driver was forced to cancel an order for refugees living behind a police barricade after a booing mob surrounded him. The Uber Eats rider was given a police escort to try and get to through the protesters guarding the Britannia Hotel in Canary Wharf on Sunday evening. But the baying mob stood in his way and he was forced to turn back with the Five Guys order under police protection as the anti-migrant protesters chanted 'scum' and 'go away'. It came after a flash mob of young men in balaclavas descended on the protest at migrants living in the 4-star hotel. Setting off red and white flares and chanting 'England' and 'Keir Starmer is a w****' repeatedly, the group struggled to break through police lines to join the other peaceful protesters, including local mothers and children listening to God Save The Queen on boomboxes. Chants of 'send them home' broke out while one man rattled the metal fence outside the hotel in full view of police officers. One guest at the hotel could be seen in a facemask sitting on the front steps staring at the angry mob on the other side of a chain link fence. A group of women, all dressed in pink, adopted a Just Stop Oil-like sit-in protest in the road outside the hotel. Protesters booed others going in and out of the building as eggs were reportedly dropped from surrounding towers on them forcing the group to briefly flee. At least one man was detained after an angry confrontation with officers. Onlookers chanted 'shame' as he was carried away. It is the latest in a series of demonstrations over the use of hotels to house asylum seekers. On Saturday, the Metropolitan Police made nine arrests after rival groups gathered outside the Thistle City Barbican Hotel in Islington, north London. A protest and counter-protest also took place in Newcastle outside the New Bridge Hotel and four people were arrested on suspicion of public order offences, Northumbria Police said. More Trending Scotland Yard said plans were in place to 'respond to any protest activity in the vicinity of other hotels in London being used to accommodate asylum seekers'. Elsewhere, Essex Police placed a number of restrictions on a planned protest in Epping on Sunday evening. The force ordered that the demonstration should finish by 8.30pm and must take place in designated areas outside the Bell Hotel, which has been the focus of a series of protests over the last few weeks. Police have also placed requirements on the removal of face coverings until 3am on Monday and have the power to direct anyone committing or suspected of committing anti-social behaviour to leave the area until 8am on Monday.
Telegraph
24 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Israeli minister flouts 1967 agreement by praying at Al-Aqsa mosque
Israel's ultra-nationalist security minister has provoked outrage by praying on the Temple Mount, violating a long-standing agreement between Israel and the Arab world. Jews are forbidden from prayer at the east Jerusalem site under the 'status quo' agreement made between Israel and Jordan in 1967. It is the holiest site in Judaism and also the location of the Al-Aqsa mosque. Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the Temple Mount while Jews around the world marked the Tisha B'Av fast day, commemorating the destruction of the first and second Holy Temples. He was filmed at the site leading a Jewish prayer. He said: 'It is precisely from here, a message must be sent [to Hamas]: to ensure that we conquer all of the Gaza Strip, declare sovereignty over the entire Gaza Strip, take down every Hamas member, and encourage voluntary migration. 'Only in this way will we bring back the hostages and win the war.' Mr Ben-Gvir's action forced Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, to issue a statement saying that 'Israel's policy of maintaining the status quo on the Temple Mount has not changed and will not change'. Saudi Arabia condemned 'in the strongest terms of the repeated provocative practices by officials of the Israeli occupation authorities against Al-Aqsa Mosque'. Its statement added: 'The Kingdom affirms that such practices fuel the conflict in the region.' The Arab nation is supporting the New York declaration with France, which recognises a Palestinian State and calls on Hamas to lay down its weapons. Other Israeli ministers and politicians visited the Temple Mount on Sunday, including Yitzhak Wasserlauf, the national resistance minister, and Sharen Haskel, deputy minister of foreign affairs. Mrs Haskel said: 'In the shadow of Oct 7, with our people still reeling from war and 50 hostages still in Hamas's dungeons of torture, the pain in Israeli society runs deep. The anger and grief are overwhelming. 'But I went up [to the Temple Mount] to remember – and to promise. To promise leadership that unites, that heals, and that protects the next generation.' Yisrael Katz, Israel's defence minister, visited the Western Wall, saying the Temple Mount was again under Israeli sovereignty after 2,000 years. He said: 'Israel haters around the world continue to make decisions against us and protest, and we will strengthen our hold and sovereignty over Jerusalem, at the Western Wall, and the Temple Mount, forever.' It is not against the status quo agreement for Jews to visit the Al-Aqsa mosque, only to pray there. Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for the Palestinian Authority, called on the international community and US to intervene 'immediately to put an end to the crimes of the settlers and the provocations of the extreme Right-wing government in Al-Aqsa Mosque, stop the war on the Gaza Strip and bring in humanitarian aid'. Jordan condemned Mr Ben-Gvir's prayer as 'an unacceptable provocation, and a reprehensible escalation.' Israel has 'no sovereignty over the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque', Jordan added. Around 1,200 Jews visited the Temple Mount on Sunday according to the Waqf, the authority which manages Islamic buildings at the site. The Temple Mount has been a flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades. Jordan is the custodian of the site, but Israel controls security around it. Palestinians and Israeli police force often clash there, especially during Ramadan and Passover, when religious Jews visit. Ultra-nationalist religious Jews have sought to regain full control of the entire site, while Hamas and Islamic Jihad supporters have attacked Israeli police forces from the site. Hamas has often said that the Al-Aqsa compound/Temple Mount was a red line, vowing to 'liberate' all of Jerusalem through jihad. The Oct 7 massacre
BreakingNews.ie
24 minutes ago
- BreakingNews.ie
Trump, Carney to speak in coming days, Canadian official says
US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will likely talk "over the next number of days" after the U.S. imposed a 35 per cent tariff on goods not covered by the US-Mexico-Canada trade agreement, a Canadian official said on Sunday. Dominic LeBlanc, the federal cabinet minister in charge of U.S.-Canada trade, also told CBS News' "Face the Nation" that he was "encouraged" by recent discussions and believed a deal to bring down tariffs remained an option. Advertisement "We're encouraged by the conversations with Secretary Lutnick and Ambassador Greer, but we're not yet where we need to go to get the deal that's in the best interest of the two economies," LeBlanc said, referring to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. The trade minister said he expected Carney and Trump to speak "over the next number of days." "We think there is an option of striking a deal that will bring down some of these tariffs provide greater certainty to investment," LeBlanc said. Washington linked Friday's tariff announcement in part to what it said was Canada's failure to stop fentanyl smuggling. It was the latest blow in a months-long tariff war which Trump initiated shortly after returning to power this year. Carney says Canada accounts for just 1 per cent of U.S. fentanyl imports and has been working intensively to further reduce the volumes.
