Europe Should Rethink Russia-India Trade Talks

Europe does not have any grounds to criticise India over the trade with Russia as the European Union's (EU) trade with Russia surpasses the India-Russia trade.

Last year, the overall EU-Russia trade stood at

$92.2 billion (€84.6 bn) compared to the India-Russia trade of around $66–70 bn.

Even though US President Donald Trump has accused India of supporting the Russian war machinery and his supporters have called for India to be hit with a sledgehammer, the fact remains that the EU last year paid more to Russia for energy imports than it provided in aid to Ukraine.

Last year, EU members bought €21.9 billion ($25.4 bn) of Russian oil and gas compared to €18.7 bn ($21.69 bn) that they allocated in aid for Ukraine, according to

estimates from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

Vaibhav Raghunandan, an analyst at CREA, told Guardian that such a behaviour amounts to “sending financial aid to the Kremlin and enabling its invasion”.

India not alone in buying Russian energy

Even though Trump has singled out India, several other countries, including EU members and Nato ally Turkey, are the leading buyers of Russian fossil fuels.

Since 2022 when Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU

has been the largest buyer of Russian liquified natural gas (LNG) at 51 per cent of overall Russian LNG exports and pipeline gas at 37 per cent and Turkey —a Nato member— has been the largest buyer of Russian oil products at 26 per cent of Russian overall exports, according to CREA.

Overall, estimates in the public domain have said that EU members have paid $215–235 billion to Russia for oil, gas, and coal imports since Russia launched the war on Ukraine in 2022 compared to $200 billion that they have allocated or pledged in aid to Ukraine.

Moreover, the EU-Russia trade is much more varied than the India-Russia trade, which largely centres around oil.

As per information in the public domain, in addition to oil and gas, EU members import chemicals, iron, steel, and other metals, and fishery and agricultural products from Russia. They export chemicals, machinery, pharmaceuticals, and transport equipment to Russia.