Russia on Wednesday said India is free to purchase crude oil from any country it chooses and that New Delhi’s efforts to diversify its oil imports are not new and are not aimed at Moscow. The statement came soon after US President Donald Trump claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to stop buying Russian oil and instead buy crude from the United States and possibly Venezuela under a trade understanding.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov rejected the idea that a shift in India’s oil sourcing would be unusual. He said Russia has never been India’s only energy supplier.

“We, along with all other international energy experts, are well aware that Russia is not the only supplier of oil and petroleum products to India. India has always purchased these products from other countries. Therefore, we see nothing new here,” Peskov said while speaking at a press conference.

His remarks came at a time when Trade Minister Piyush Goyal had recently said that India is expanding its energy mix to respond to changing global situations and to ensure energy security for its citizens.

However, Peskov said Moscow has not received any official message from India suggesting that it plans to stop buying Russian oil. He also pointed out that he had said the same thing a day earlier, stressing again that there has been no such communication from New Delhi.

Supporting continued energy cooperation, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the trade in hydrocarbons benefits both sides and also helps global markets remain stable.

“India's purchase of Russian hydrocarbons is beneficial for both sides and helps maintain stability in the global energy market. We are ready to continue close cooperation with our Indian partners,” she said during a briefing.

At the same time, energy analysts in Russia said it would be difficult for Indian refiners to completely replace Russian crude oil with other sources.

Igor Yushkov of the National Energy Security Fund explained that US shale exports are mainly light-grade crude, while Russia supplies heavier, sulphur-rich Urals crude, which is widely used in Indian refineries. He said India would have to mix US oil with other crude grades, which would increase costs. “India would need to blend US oil with other grades, which raises costs. A simple substitution is not possible,” he said.

Yushkov also said Russia currently ships between 1.5 million and 2 million barrels per day to India, and the United States may not be able to supply such large volumes easily. “It looks like Trump is trying to project the talks as a win entirely on US terms,” he added.

He further recalled that when Russia redirected its oil supplies to India from Europe and the United States in 2022, it reduced production by around one million barrels per day. This move pushed global oil prices close to USD 120 per barrel and led to record high petrol and diesel prices in the United States.

Trump had previously imposed heavy tariffs on India because of New Delhi’s purchases of Russian energy. The White House has argued that such purchases are supporting Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine. Recently, Trump announced a trade deal under which tariffs on Indian imports were cut from 50 per cent to 18 per cent, with immediate effect.

India imports nearly 88 per cent of the crude oil it refines into fuels such as petrol and diesel. Russian oil was only 0.2 per cent of India’s total oil imports until 2021. But after Western nations avoided Russian oil following Moscow’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, India became the biggest buyer of discounted Russian crude.

According to data from real-time analytics firm Kpler, India’s Russian crude imports dropped to around 1.1 million barrels per day in the first three weeks of January. This was lower than the average 1.21 million barrels per day in the previous month and also lower than the more than 2 million barrels per day recorded in mid-2025.