Russia has not received any communication from India regarding the stopping of Russian oil purchases, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday, reacting to the claims by US President Donald Trump that India would halt oil purchases from Russia.
Trump had, on Monday, claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "agreed to stop buying Russian Oil, and to buy much more from the United States and, potentially, Venezuela."
“Moscow has not yet received any statements about India halting purchases of oil," Russian media quoted Peskov as saying.
He further said Russia intends to continue to develop its relations with India in every possible way, according to Russian media reports.
India imports about 88 per cent of the crude oil it uses to produce fuels such as petrol and diesel.
Until 2021, Russian oil accounted for only about 0.2 per cent of India’s total crude oil imports. However, after Western countries stopped buying Russian oil following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, India became the biggest buyer of discounted Russian crude.
According to data from real-time analytics firm Kpler, India’s imports of Russian crude fell to about 1.1 million barrels per day in the first three weeks of January. This was down from an average of 1.21 million barrels per day in the previous month and more than 2 million barrels per day in mid-2025.
Igor Yushkov, an expert at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation and the National Energy Security Fund, told Russian media NEWS.ru that energy resources from Russia remain the most profitable option on the market for India.
“There's no reason for India to give up Russian oil; it remains the most advantageous offer on the market. Russian oil isn't banned, and it's discounted, so they're taking it. So if India hasn't refused Russian oil for almost a year, even with tariffs rising, why should it suddenly give it up now that the discount has become even greater? And the country certainly won't abandon Russian energy resources in favour of Venezuelan oil, which the Americans are waiving sanctions on,” Yushkov was quoted as saying.