India’s foreign ministry has indicated it has no knowledge of a phone call where U.S. President Donald Trump asserted that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had agreed to cease the purchase of Russian oil. This statement casts a shadow of doubt over the U.S. president’s claim.
On Wednesday, Trump announced that his Indian counterpart had “assured me today” that India would soon halt its imports of Russian oil. This move is something the U.S. has been actively promoting to exert greater economic pressure on the Kremlin and encourage an end to the war in Ukraine. However, when questioned about the call on Thursday, a spokesperson for the Indian government expressed ignorance of any such conversation between the two leaders occurring the previous day.
Earlier, the Indian government had indicated that discussions with the U.S. regarding its Russian oil imports were ongoing. India has significantly increased its energy purchases from Russia since the conflict in Ukraine began, which has been seen as a way for Moscow to mitigate the economic impact of sanctions imposed by Ukraine’s allies, who represent Russia’s largest export market.
The Trump administration has been publicly and diplomatically urging India to curtail its reliance on Russian energy markets as part of an effort to isolate the Kremlin economically and bring an end to the war. Russia commenced its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, Trump stated that Modi had guaranteed India would stop its purchases “within a short period of time.”
In its initial reaction, the Indian government did not directly refute the occurrence of the call between Trump and Modi. The statement read: “Our consistent priority to safeguard the interests of the Indian consumer in a volatile energy scenario. Our import policies are guided entirely by this objective.”
The subsequent clarification from the Indian government on Thursday has further fueled questions about whether an agreement has indeed been reached between Washington and Delhi.
BBC News has reached out to the White House and the State Department for comments on this matter.